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Once Upon A Time
In Delaware

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To All Delaware Children

Dear Girls and Boys:

These true stories are written just for you. They
tell how once upon a time brave men and women came
across the ocean and landed here in the wilderness,
among the Indian tribes; how they made farms and
towns and cities and formed a state; and how they
fought for the freedom and the peace that Delaware
now enjoys. Only thirteen out of the forty-eight
states of our Union are original colonies, and Dela-
ware is one of these famous thirteen. You are the
young citizens, therefore, of an historic state. To you
it will fall, some day, to uphold the honor of Dela-
ware. May you be as patriotic and as brave as the
Delaware settlers who conquered the wilderness and
the Delaware soldiers who laid down their lives for
liberty and right.

THE DELAWARE SOCIETY OF THE

COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA.

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Editor's Preface

This book is prepared by the Delaware Society of
the Colonial Dames of America for the use, primarily,
of the children of Delaware, in school and out Its
style and matter are therefore chosen to suit young
readers.

Many historical points in these stories are more or
less disputed. The original sources do not always agree.
In preparing these stories of Delaware for children's
reading, it has been thought best to use anecdotes and
interesting traditions whenever they could be found.
The result is a substantially true set of stories, which
do not however, undertake to settle the facts in any
disputed case, but are designed to leave in a child's
mind the broad outlines of Delaware history.

The stories have all been read and revised by the
late Hon. Alexander B. Cooper of New Castle, to
whom the thanks of the Colonial Dames are due for
his wise and constant help. The Rev. Joseph B.
Turner, of Dover, has also kindly read over several of
the stories, and Judge Richard S. Rodney has revised
this second edition.

Table of Contents

PAGE

I. How ONCE UPON A TIME THE DUTCH

CAME To ZWANNENDAEL 5

II. How ONCE UPON A TIME THE SWEDES

BUILT A FORT 19

III. How ONCE UPON A TIME GOVERNOR STUY-

VESANT HAD His WAY 33

IV. How ONCE UPON A TIME WILLIAM PENN

LANDED AT NEW CASTLE 49

V. How ONCE UPON A TIME CAESAR RODNEY

RODE FOR FREEDOM 61

VI. How ONCE UPON A TIME THE ROW-GAL-
LEYS FOUGHT THE ROEBUCK . . . . 75

VII. How ONCE UPON A TIME THE BLUE HEN'S

CHICKENS WENT To WAR 85

VIII. How ONCE UPON A TIME WASHINGTON

CAME To DELAWARE 101

IX. How ONCE UPON A TIME MARY VINING

RULED ALL HEARTS 113

X. How ONCE UPON A TIME McDoNoucn

SAILED THE SEA 125

XI. How ONCE UPON A TIME DELAWARE WEL-
COMED LAFAYETTE 139

XII. How ONCE UPON A TIME MASON AND

DIXON RAN A BOUNDARY . . . . .153

xi

Once Upon A Time
In Delaware

How Once Upon A Time The
Dutch Came To Zwannendael.

T was a clear warm day in March or April
in the year 1631, and the sunlight shone
pleasantly on a little Indian village of the
Leni Lenapes on the banks of the broad Delaware
river.

From the openings in the tops of the wigwams —
openings that answered in place of chimneys — the
smoke of the fires rose toward the cloudless spring
sky. There was a savory smell of cooking — of game,
of fish, or of a sort of hasty pudding that the squaws
make of corn, which they have ground to meal be-
tween stones.

A number of the young men had gone off to the
forest in search of game, or had paddled away in their
canoes to distant fishing grounds, but some of them
were still left in the village. Now and then a brave
stalked with grave dignity among the wigwams; and
the three chiefs, Quescacous, Entquet, and Siconesius
sat a little withdrawn, and in the shadow of some
trees, smoking- together.

6 How ONCE UPON A TIME

An Indian youth who was setting a trap down by
the river paused, when he had finished his task, to
look up and down the stream for returning canoes.
There was none in sight, but what he did see caught
his attention and brought a startled look of wonder to
his face. He bent forward in eager attention and gave
vent to a low guttural exclamation. Down toward the
bay two objects such as he had never seen before
moved slowly over the surface of the water. They
moved like great birds with wide spread wings; but
they were no birds, as the Indian knew well. What-
ever they were, they were the work of human hands,
and they were coming toward the village.

Once satisfied of this, the Indian turned and sped
back to the wigwams to carry the news.

What he had to tell was enough to arouse not only
the interest of the younger Indians, but of the braves
and the chiefs as well. Soon a group of natives had
gathered on the shore, all gazing down toward the
bay.

And a marvellous sight it must have been to those
Indians that spring morning when the two ships of
the first colonists who ever settled in Delaware came
sailing up the river toward them. In the lead came a
vessel of eighteen guns, her sails spread wide to the
light breeze, the flag of Holland floating from her
masthead. Following her was a smaller yacht named
the Walrus. Over the sides of these vessels leaned the
sailors and the colonists, blue eyed and fair haired,
dressed in cloth suits and glittering buttons.

These immigrants gazed with wonder at the strange

THE DUTCH CAME To ZWANNENDAEL 7

natives gathered on the shore — at their painted faces
and feathers; and they saw with joy the beauty of
this new land. For five months these ships had sailed
the trackless ocean, now beaten by storms, now driven
on by favoring winds; and now at last, under their
leader, DeVries, they had reached their haven.

They were not the first white men who had sailed
these waters. Long, long before, Hudson had come
this way on his search for a north-east passage to
China. In 1612 Hendrickson had ventured up the river
in his little ship Restless, but neither of these had set
foot on the land, unless it was to seek a spring for
water to drink. These men under DeVries in 1631
were the first who ever made an attempt to settle.

Very joyously these first colonists landed in Dela-
ware. Flags were flying and music playing. The can-
non of the ship boomed out a salute across the water.
It reverberated solemnly over the wild and lonely
country where such a sound had never been heard
before. The colonists were delighted with the peace
and the beauty of the land. The point where the boat
first touched is now called Paradise Point. It is the
little projection of land at the mouth of what is now
known as Lewes Creek.

The three chiefs, gorgeous in paint and feathers,
came down to meet the strangers and conducted them
up the shore to the village. Here they motioned to
them to seat themselves around the fire and smoke
the pipe of peace.

The various small tribes of Indians in Delaware
all belonged to the one great tribe of the Leni Lenapes.

8 How ONCE UPON A TIME

DeVries had bought the land for his settlement
from Samuel Godyn, who had gotten it a few years
before from the Indians. DeVries was very anxious
to establish friendly relations with them. He believed
that if the natives were treated fairly and kindly there
would be no trouble with them.

Later on, a bargain was made for land on the New
Jersey shore near Cape May between the Indians and
the white men, whether by signs or through an inter-
preter sent down from the New Netherlands (New
York) which had been settled some time before, we do
not know. But we are told in the old documents that
this first tract of land, thirty-two miles along the bay
and river from Cape Henlopen, was sold by the Indians
for "certain parcels of cargoes," probably kettles, cloth,
beads and ornaments.

After the second bargain was made, DeVries again
took ship; and the three chiefs sailed with him up to
New Netherlands, where a solemn deed was made
before the three chiefs and signed and sealed by the
Dutch Governor and the Directors, Council and Sheriff
of the New Netherlands.1

Down in the newly purchased land the colonists
immediately set about building shelters for themselves.
Their possessions had been landed with them — their
chests of clothing, their farming tools, and the seeds
they had brought from home. They must begin to
prepare fields, too; for it was time the seeds were
planted.

The spot they selected was near the mouth of the
creek, where there was a spring of delicious cool water;

THE DUTCH CAME To ZWANNENDAEL 9

and, because of the wild swans that were sometimes
seen there, they named their little settlement Zwannen-
dael. The river they called Hoornekill in honor of
DeVries, whose native place was Hoorne in Holland.

The natives watched with wonder the strange work
of these colonists, and the square houses with doors
and windows which they made, which were so dif-
ferent from the round wigwams woven of boughs and
barks.

Beside separate cabins the settlers built themselves
a general house to serve as defense in time of need.
They called it Fort Oplandt; but DeVries placed such
extraordinary confidence in the Indians that the so-
called fort was only a house, larger and stronger than
the cabins, and surrounded by a high fence.

So diligently did the settlers go about their work
that by the middle of the summer they were quite well
established.

DeVries was anxious to go back to Holland and
bring out more settlers, so he appointed Giles Hosset *
Director of the colony and then made his preparations
to sail.

It was with heavy hearts that the little band of
colonists saw the ship that had brought them from
home spread its wings and sail away.

They watched it until it was only a speck in the
distance, until even the speck had disappeared. Then
they turned again to their work with a new feeling
of loneliness. They were so few in that great land of
savages.

They had provisions enough, brought from home to

io How ONCE UPON A TIME

last them a year however, and what danger was there
to fear when the Indians seemed so peaceable and
friendly ?

For some months after DeVries left them, all went
well; and then trouble arose. The trouble was over a
very little thing, no more nor less than a little square
of tin.

One of the first things the colonists had done after
settling their farms, was to erect a pillar, and place
on it a piece of tin carved with the arms of the United
Provinces, as Holland was called. Those arms, set
high above the village, were to them a constant re-
minder of their old home across the sea; and often,
as they went to and fro about their work, their home-
sick eyes would turn to it for comfort.

But one morning when the colonists arose to go to
their daily toil, the piece of tin was missing. Evidently,
someone had wrenched it from its place in the night.

Angry and excited, the colonists began to make
inquiries. For a time they learned nothing of how or
why it had been taken, but at length they found it
had been stolen by an old chief to make tobacco pipes.
Then the colonists were more angry than ever. It
seemed an insult to their country that her arms should
have been put to such a base use.

The natives were much alarmed when they found
how angry the settlers were. They did not understand
why they set such value upon the arms. Was the piece
of tin something sacred — something that the pale faces
worshiped? Soon the great sachem DeVries would
return, unless they could make their peace with the
pale faces.

THE DUTCH CAME To ZWANNENDAEL n

A few days later some of the natives came to the
settlement, bringing a gift to the white men — a gift
that they hoped might soothe the anger of the settlers.
It was the bloody scalp of the old chief. They had
killed him and brought this as a peace offering.

The settlers, with Giles Hosset at their head, were
overcome with horror.

"What have you done!" Hosset cried, "Why did
you not bring him to the fort? We could have reproved
him, and told him that if he did such a thing again
he would be punished. But you yourselves should be
punished for this. It is a bloody and barbarous act!"

The Indians heard him with sullen look. They in
their turn were enraged. They had thought to please
the white men by killing the white men's enemy, and
now the white men were more angry than ever. The
natives dissembled, however; they went away with
calm looks, but black rage was in their hearts.

Giles Hosset was deeply troubled.

"Evil will surely come of this," he said. "Innocent
blood has been shed, and something tells me that more
will follow."

However, the next few days passed peacefully. Giles
Hosset' s fears began to die away. The Indians were
apparently as friendly as ever, and the whole tragic
event seemed to have been forgotten. But it was not.
There were friends of the chief who remembered and
blamed the pale faces for his death, and whose hearts
were full of hatred and revenge.

One morning the colonists were gathering in their
crops, and the little cluster of cabins lay peaceful and
deserted in the golden autumn. Two people only were

12 How ONCE UPON A TIME

left in the strong house. One was a man who was sick
and so unable to work ; the other was a stout, strong
fellow who stayed there on guard. A great brindled
mastiff was chained to the wall by a strong staple. He
lay asleep, sometimes rousing himself to snap lazily
at the flies. The guard was sharpening some farm
implements ; the man on the bed lay watching him, and
now and then they chatted idly.

Suddenly the great mastiff lifted its head and lis-
tened. Then it sprang to its feet, struggling against
the chain and growling ominously.

"What is it?" asked the sick man.

The guard went to the door and looked out.

"Indians," he answered.

"Indians?" repeated the sick man, "I like not that
they should come here when all the others are away
and out of call."

However, it seemed that these Indians had come on
a matter of barter. They had with them a stack of
beaver skins, which they wished to exchange for cloth
or provisions. They spread them out on the floor, and
the white men grew quite interested in examining
them.

Presently they made their bargain, and the guard
said he would go up to the loft and get certain of the
stores that were kept there.

One of the Indians followed him up and stood
around as he selected the things he was to exchange
for the skins. Then, as the guard started down the
ladder, swift as lightning the Indian struck him with
an axe he had picked up, and crushed in his head. The
man had not even time to cry out

THE DUTCH CAME To ZWANNENDAEL 13

Immediately, and as though this sound had been
the signal, the natives fell upon the sick man and
killed him. Others rushed upon the dog, but there they
met with such a fierce defense that they fell back.
The brave beast pulled and struggled against the chain,
and a moment later he fell pierced by a shower of
arrows.

When nothing was left alive in the strong house,
the Indians went out to where the colonists were
quietly at work in the fields, guessing nothing of the
tragedy that had just been enacted at the strong house.

The Indians approached them tranquilly, their
weapons carefully concealed. So friendly were their
looks that the white men felt no fear; but only Giles
Hosset, remembering the death of the chief, watched
them with some uneasiness. But even he had no faint-
est suspicion of the bloody work so soon to begin.

When the Indians were quite close to the settlers,
their friendly look suddenly turned to one of ferocity
and hate. Weapons were flourished, they burst into
their terrible war cry and fell upon the defenseless
colonists. So thorough was their work that, when it
was ended, not one white man was left alive to tell
the tale of the terrible massacre of Zwannendael.

We are told that DeVries had almost finished his
preparations and was expecting soon to return to
Zwannendael, but that when he heard the tidings he
was overcome.

The return voyage was given up, for the new col-
onists were afraid to risk the fate of the others. And
so, in the massacre of Zwannendael, ended the first
settlement ever made on Delaware soil.

How ONCE UPON A TIME

Yet still the land had been possessed by the Dutch.
It was not, any more, unclaimed land that belonged
to any man that came along. When the King of Eng-
land gave away all the land along that part of the
coast to Lord Baltimore, only three years later, he
could not give this land of Delaware, because it had
already been settled by DeVries for Holland. Our
state began when the Dutch colonists first stepped
ashore on Paradise Point.

NOTES 15

NOTES

1. Bancroft says, "The voyage of DeVries was the cradling of
a state, and that Delaware exists as a separate commonwealth is
due to the colony he brought and planted on her shore. Though
the colony was swept out of existence soon after, this charter,
three years before the Maryland patent was granted Lord Balti-
more, preserved Delaware."

2. Giles Hosset in this position as Director of the Colony may
well be called the first Governor of Delaware.

How Once Upon A Time
The Swedes Built A Fort.

PRING had come again. The sun shone
as bright and clear as when, seven years
before, DeVries and his Dutch settlers
had sailed up the Delaware and landed on its shores.
That was in 1631. Now it was the year 1638, and
two other vessels1 were sailing up the broad river.
But these ships were not Dutch ; they carried the colors
of Sweden, and the men who crowded to the sides of
the vessels to gaze at the unknown shores were Swedes.
Six months before, these men, fifty in all, had started
out from Gottenburg to journey across the sea to this
new land. For six months they had been tossed and
beaten by many storms upon the ocean, but now at
last they had reached the promised land.

Slowly they sailed up the river and past the mouth
of the Hoornekill.2 The colonists stared in silence at
the spot where the little settlement of Zwannendael

19

2O How ONCE UPON A TIME

had once stood. Nothing marked the place now but a
few blackened ruins ; and these, wind and storm were
slowly eating away.

The Swedes did not stop there, but sailed on up
the river. Their commander, Peter Minuit, had once
been with the West India Company at New Nether-
lands, and knew something of the country and had a
clear idea of where he wished to start his colony.
Some miles above the Hoornekill, Minquas Creek
(now our Christiana) emptied into the Delaware. Two
and a half miles from its mouth, a point of rocks3
jutted out into the stream and made a sort of natural
wharf. It was upon this point that the Swedes made
their landing.

Stores and implements were carried to the shore,
and soon the silence of the new land was broken by
the sound of the ax and the voices of the settlers
talking and calling to one another.

Lonely and deserted as the country had seemed to
the new settlers, their coming was quickly known to
both the Indians and the Dutch.

The first to visit them was an Indian Chief named
Mattahoon. He and some of his braves stalked in
among the colonists one day, with silent Indian tread,
and stood looking about them with curious, glittering
black eyes. Minuit gave them some presents, and they
seemed much pleased. Then Mattahoon told Minuit
that the land belonged to him and his braves.

Minuit wished to buy it from him, and the Sachem
agreed to sell it for a copper kettle and some other

THE SWEDES BUILT A FORT 21

small articles. These were given to him, and he and
his braves went away, well content with their bargain.

The next visitor to come to them was a messenger
from New Amsterdam. He told them that Director
General Kieft, the Dutch Governor, had sent him to
ask why they had settled on land that belonged to the
Dutch. The Dutch had bought it from the Indians
long ago, at the time DeVries had settled on the river.

Minuit answered the messenger very civilly. He
gave the Dutchman to understand that he and his
Swedes were on their way to the West Indies, and
had only landed on this shore for rest and refresh-
ment.

The messenger believed what Minuit said, and was
quite satisfied, and the next day he returned to New
Amsterdam and told Kieft there was nothing to fear
from these strangers; they were only passers-by and
had no wish to settle upon the river.

However, not long after this, a Dutch ship sailing
up the river saw that the strangers were still there.
Moreover, they were building houses and something
that looked like a fort, and gardens were laid out.

Kieft, the Dutch Governor, was very angry when
he heard this. Again he sent a messenger in haste, to
ask why the Swedes were building, and to demand
that they should re-enter their ships and sail away.

Minuit paid but little attention to this second mes-
senger. He was very busy. The fort was almost fin-
ished. Reorus Torkillus, a clergyman who had come
from Sweden with him, had already held services in

22 How ONCE UPON A TIME

it, and had prayed for the welfare of their little set-
tlement of Christinaham, for that was what they had
named it. The fort itself was called Fort Christina, in
honor of the Swedish Queen, and the name of the
creek was changed from Minquas to Christina.

It was of no use for the Dutch to send messengers
now. The Swedes were well established. Moreover,
they had made friends with the Indians. Minuit had
given them a number of presents — kettles, cloth, trin-
kets, and even fire-arms and ammunition.4

With these presents the savages were delighted ; and
they signed a paper with their marks, giving to the
Swedes all the land from Cape Henlopen to Santican,
or what is now called the Falls of Trenton. When the
Dutch heard this, they were indignant for they claimed
that all that land had already been sold to them.

Reorus Torkillus, the Swedish minister for the little
settlement, did what he could to keep peace with both
the Dutch and the Indians. He was an earnest, pious
man, and his great hope was that he might convert
the savages to Christianity. He regularly held Di-
vine service in the fort. He also had a plot of
ground fenced off to serve as a burying ground when
such might be needed.5

The Indians understood but little of the teachings
of Torkillus; but there was one thing that they did
understand, and that was that the Swedes gave them
many presents and paid them better for their furs and
skins than the Dutch did. Minuit, indeed, was always
careful to find out what the Dutch were paying them
and then to offer a little more. In this way he secured

THE SWEDES BUILT A FORT 23

all the best and choicest of the furs — a cause of fresh
anger to the Dutch.

But with all this friendly feeling between the Swedes
and the Indians, the settlers were obliged to be on
their watch with the savages. The Leni Lenapes, to
which the Delaware tribes belonged, were for the most
part a peaceful people ; but there often appeared among
them Indians from another tribe, probably Iroquois,
whom the settlers called "Flatheads." 6 These strange
Indians were both cruel and treacherous, and they
made it dangerous for a settler to venture out of sight
or hearing of the settlement. Often they would hide
in the woods and fall upon some lonely wanderer, and
kill or stun and then scalp him.

The scalping itself was not always fatal. There is
a story of a drunken soldier who fell asleep across
his gun. When he awoke, he had a strange feeling in
his head. At first he thought it was the effect of what
he had drunk, but presently, to his terror, he found he
had been scalped. And there is a story too, of a woman
who had gone into the forest to gather fire-wood.
She was struck down, stunned, and scalped by a Flat-
head, but she lived many years afterward. Her hair,
however, never grew out again, except as a fine down.

There was another thing about the Indians that, as
time went on, made the settlers more and more anx-
ious. In order to keep them in good temper, it was
necessary to continue to give them presents. At first
it was easy for the colonists to do this, for they had
brought with them from Sweden a large store of things
for that very purpose. But as time went on, their stores

24 How ONCE UPON A TIME

dwindled away. They had expected ships from home
to bring them a fresh supply, but no ships came.

Week after week and month after month passed
by; the home land seemed to have forgotten them.
Their cloth was all gone, their clothes were thread-
bare, and many of their cattle had died. The Indians
came to Christinaham, expecting presents, and went
away with angry looks and empty hands.

In the year 1640 the Chief Mattahoon called to-
gether a great meeting of the sachems and warriors
of Delaware. The meeting was held deep in the wood
where no white man could come. All the chiefs and
braves were gathered there, old and young. They ate
and drank. Then Mattahoon spoke to them. He asked
them whether it would not be better to kill all the
Swedes. He said:

"The Swedes live here upon our land, they have
many forts and houses, but they have no goods to sell
us. We find nothing in their stores that we want. They
have no cloth, red, blue, or brown. They have no
kettles, no brass, no lead, no guns, no powder. But
the English and the Dutch have many things. Shall we
kill all the Swedes or suffer them to remain?"

An Indian warrior answered:

"Why should we kill all the Swedes? They are in
friendship with us. We have no complaint to make of
them. Presently they will bring here a large ship full
of all sorts of good things."

With this speech all the others agreed. Then Matta-
hoon said:

"Then we native Indians will love the Swedes, and

THE SWEDES BUILT A FORT 25

the Swedes shall be our good friends. We and the
Swedes and Dutch shall always trade with each
other."

Soon after this the meeting was dissolved, and all
the Indians returned to their own villages.

The Swedish settlers knew nothing of this meeting,
but they had felt that they were in danger. It was in
March of that year, 1640, that they decided, with sad
hearts, to give up their little settlement and remove to
New Amsterdam. Preparations were made for aban-
doning Christinaham. Tools and provisions were
packed, and the boats made ready.

The Dutch heard with joy that the little settlement
was to be given up. At last they would be rid of their
troublesome neighbors.

However, the very day before the Swedes were to
leave, a vessel arrived from Sweden, bringing them
cattle, seeds, cloths and all the things of which they
were so in need. The ship also brought a letter from
the wise Swedish Councillor Oxenstiern and his
brother. In this letter, the colonists were encouraged
in their undertaking and told to keep brave hearts.
They were also promised that two more vessels should
be sent out to them in the spring.

When the colonists heard this news, they shouted
for joy. The household goods which they had packed
with such heavy hearts were now unpacked, the houses
were opened, and the work of the village was taken
up again.

The Indians were greatly pleased. Now they saw
how wise they had been to have patience and wait,

26 How ONCE UPON A TIME

instead of killing all the Swedes as they had been
tempted to do. The Swedes were again their best
friends, and the givers of many gifts.

The Dutch were obliged to swallow their disappoint-
ment as best they could, for now the Swedes were
more firmly settled than ever. Fields were tilled, and
orchards planted. Later on they built forts at the
mouths of various Creeks, so as to prevent the Dutch
from trading with the Indians.

When, in 1643, Lieutenant Printz came out from
Sweden to take the position of Governor; he built a
handsome house on Tinnicum Island, just above Ches-
ter, and also a fort and a church.8 The principal
Swedes built their houses around this fort, and the
village that arose back of it was called "Printzdorf,"
Thus the capital of New Sweden was removed from
Christinaham to Tinnicum Island.

The Governor held absolute power over the little
colony, and all matters were decided by him according
to his own will.

There were, at this time, two kinds of people upon
the Delaware ; the freemen, who owned their own land
and farmed and traded, and prisoners, who had been
sent over from Sweden on the earliest vessels, and who
were employed in digging ditches and hewing and
building, and were treated as slaves. In fact, there
was no lack of laborers in the colony.

Rich cargoes of furs and tobacco were now sent
back to Sweden. The Dutch were in despair. They saw
all the Indian trade being taken out of their hands;
but Sweden was too powerful both at home and abroad

THE SWEDES BUILT A FORT

27

for them to dare to interfere with her, and from this
time until Stuyvesant came out to be Governor of the
New Netherlands the Swedes ruled supreme along the
Delaware.

The spot where the Swedes first landed is still pre-
served, and is marked by a portion of the original
rock, placed close to the landing-place on the bank of
the Christiana. This rock bears an inscription, and is
enclosed by a low iron railing. It may be called the
Plymouth Rock of Delaware, for it is taken from the
natural wharf of rocks on which the Swedes first
stepped, and marks the first permanent settlement made
in Delaware.

28 NOTES

NOTES

1. The ships were the Key of Kalmar and the Bird Grip or
Griffin.

2. A landing was made a few miles above the Hoornekill at
a point between the Murderkill and Mispillion Creeks, in Kent
County, but the Swedes only stopped there for a short time for
rest and refreshment. The place was so beautiful that they named
it Paradise Point.

3. This point of rocks marked the foot of what is now Sixth
Street, in Wilmington.

4. Giving or trading fire-arms or ammunition to the Indians
was afterward forbidden on pain of death. The arming of the
Indians was considered too dangerous.

5. Upon the site of this burying ground the Old Swedes'
Church now stands; and somewhere beneath it lie the bones of
Reorus Torkillus.

6. So called from a curious flattening of the crown of the
head.

7. This account is given by Campanius.

8. The present church of Old Swedes at Wilmington was not
built until 1698, so this church on Tinnicum Island was the first
one built by the Swedes. In Minuit's time, Torkillus had held
Divine service in the fort.

How Once Upon A Time

Governor Stuyvesant

Had His Way.

kETER STUYVESANT was a tall, red-faced
Dutchman who came out to the New Nether-
lands in 1647, to take the place of Kieft as
Governor of that Province.

Governor Stuyvesant had fought in many battles,
and in one of them had lost a leg. When he came out
to New Netherlands he had a wooden leg; and as it
was fastened together by rings of silver, it was often
called "the Governor's silver leg." Stuyvesant had also
a very violent temper; and, when he was angry, he
stamped about with this leg as though it were a club
and he were beating the floor with it.

At this time, in 1647, the Swedes claimed all of
Delaware as theirs, and called it New Sweden. They
had driven many of the Dutch away, had torn down
their buildings, and had kept them from trading with
the Indians. Every little while news of fresh wrongs
to the Dutch was brought from Delaware to Governor
Stuyvesant; and every time a letter or messenger ar-
rived, the Governor had a fresh fit of rage. He believed
that the Dutch were the real owners of the river; and,
if he could, he would have gathered his soldiers to-
gether and sailed down to New Sweden, and have
done his best to drive every Swede out of the country.

This he could not do, however; for the Directors of

33

34 How ONCE UPON A TIME

the West India Company, who had given him his posi-
tion as Governor, had told him to keep peace not only
with the Indians, but with the Swedes as well.

This was a hard thing for a hot-tempered man like
Stuyvesant to do. Now the story would be that the
Swedes had destroyed more of the Dutch buildings
along the Delaware; again, that the Swedes had in-
cited the Indians to try to surprise and massacre the
Dutch; and Hudde, the Dutch commissioner in New
Sweden, wrote that a Swedish lieutenant and twenty-
four soldiers had come to his house one day and cut
down all his trees, even the fruit trees.

Stuyvesant stamped about louder than ever when
he heard this. The insult to the Dutch commissioner
seemed the worst thing that had yet happened ; and he
made up his mind to sail down to New Sweden and
remonstrate with the Swedish Governor Printz him-
self.

Governor Printz lived in a very handsome house
called Printz Hall, on Tinnicum Island. All about it
were fine gardens and an orchard. There was also a
pleasure house, and indeed everything that could help
to make it comfortable and convenient. Governor
Printz received Governor Stuyvesant very politely in
the great hall of the house, and presently the two gov-
ernors sat down and began to talk. Stuyvesant com-
plained bitterly of the treatment the Dutch had re-
ceived in Delaware. He repeated that by rights the
Dutch really owned the land ; they had bought it years
before from the Indians, and their right to it had been
sealed by the blood they had shed upon its soil.

GOVERNOR STUYVESANT HAD His WAY 35

Printz himself was a very violent man, and often
gross and abusive; but this time he kept his temper
and answered the Dutch Governor civilly. Stuyvesant,
though, gained nothing by his visit, and all his talk
and reasoning. Printz was determined to keep all the
land along the Delaware, and to govern it as he
pleased. As to cutting down Hudde's trees, he said he
had had nothing to do with that matter, and was sorry
it had happened,

So Stuyvesant went back to his own fine house at
New Amsterdam, and the Dutch in New Sweden were
no better off.

However, he was not one to let the matter rest at
that. He kept it in his mind, and at last, as the result
of his thinking, he sent messengers to all the Indian
sachems along the Delaware, inviting them to come to
a great meeting at the governor's house in New
Amsterdam.

The meeting was set for early in July ; and, on the
day appointed, the Indians came. They were grave and
fierce looking, in spite of their gay paint and feathers.
Stuyvesant received them in the hall of his house; and
after they had all arrived, they sat down there in
council.

The first thing Stuyvesant wished to learn from
them was exactly how much land they had sold to the
Swedes.

The Indians told him they had not sold any land to
the Swedes, except that upon which Fort Christina
stood, and ground enough around it for a garden to
plant tobacco in.

36 How ONCE UPON A TIME

"Then will you sell the land to us?" asked Stuy-
vesant.

The Indians were quite willing to do this. They
were always willing to sell anything, even if they had
already sold it; but what they wished to know was
what the Dutch would give. The price finally agreed
upon was, if they had only known it, an absurd price
indeed; but the Indians were quite content with it. It
was: 12 coats of duffels (a kind of cloth), 12 kettles,
12 axes, 12 adzes, 24 knives, 12 bars of lead and 4
guns with some powder; besides this, the Dutch to
repair the gun of the Chief Penomennetta when it
was out of order, and to give the Indians a few hand-
fuls of maize when they needed it. This was the price
for which the Indians sold to the Dutch all the land
along the Delaware River, from Fort Christina to
Bombay Hook.

The Indians then went away, very much pleased.
Governor Stuyvesant, too, was in high good humor.
Now he would show Printz who was the real owner
of the land.

In the year 1651, Stuyvesant set about having a fort
built at New Amstel (now New Castle) about five
miles south of Fort Christina. The name of it was to
be Fort Casimir.1 This fort was of great value to the
Dutch, and Stuyvesant felt that he had taken the first
step toward recovering Dutch possession of the Dela-
ware.

Printz, as soon as he knew what Stuyvesant was
about, protested against the building of the fort; but
he was not strong enough to prevent it. He had grown

GOVERNOR STUYVESANT HAD His WAY 37

very unpopular, because of his violent and coarse
temper. He was hated not only by the Dutch and the
English, but by his own people as well. Things began
to grow more and more unpleasant for him, so that
at last he begged to be allowed to go back to Sweden ;
and in 1653 he left the shores of New Sweden and
his house on Tinnicum Island, and sailed away not to
return.

But Stuyvesant was well pleased. He felt that it
was he, with his building of Fort Casimir, who had
driven the Swede away. He smiled comfortably to
himself as he sat smoking his pipe, and made fresh
plans.

But in June, 1654, news came to Governor Stuy-
vesant that made him leap from his chair and clench
his hands and stamp up and down as though he would
break his wooden-silver leg to pieces. The Swedes
had taken Fort Casimir! And they had taken it with-
out a single blow having been struck by the Dutch.
The taking of the fort was in this way:

Rysing, the new Swedish governor, had arrived at
Godyn Bay early in May. He came sailing up the
South River in the good ship Aren, and with him
came a number of new settlers, bold and resolute men,
about two or three hundred in all.

As they came near Fort Casimir they fired a royal
salute, dropped their sails, and anchored. This was
May 31, 1654. Gerritt Bikker, the commander of the
fort, immediately sent to ask their business in these
waters. Bikker was a very weak and timid man.

The messengers soon returned, bringing word that

38 How ONCE UPON A TIME

it was a Swedish ship with the new Governor, and
that he demanded to have Fort Casimir handed over
to him, as it was on Swedish land.

Bikker was amazed at this message, and was about
to write out an answer when he was told that a boat
from the Swedish vessel was coming toward the Fort,
with about twenty men.

Bikker thought that they were bringing some fur-
ther message, and politely went down to the beach to
meet them. The gate of the fort was left open.

The Swedes landed ; but, instead of stopping on the
beach, they marched straight to the open gate and into
the fort. Then, drawing their swords, they demanded
the surrender of the fort. At the same time two shots
were fired from the Swedish vessel, and the Swedes
in the fort wrenched the muskets from the hands of
the Dutch soldiers. The whole thing was so sudden
that the Dutch were unable to make any resistance,
and in a moment they had been chased from the fort,
and the Swedes had taken possession of everything.

All this happened on Trinity Sunday, so the Swedes
now changed the name of the fort from Fort Casimir,
to Fort Trinity.

The Dutch living near the fort, took the oath of
allegiance to the Swedish crown, and it seemed that
Stuyvesant was to lose everything he had just gained
in Delaware.

It was felt to be very important at this time to gain
the friendship of the Indians, so, very soon after the
capture of Fort Casimir, Governor Rysing asked the

GOVERNOR STUYVESANT HAD His WAY 39

Delaware sachems to come to a meeting at Printz
Hall.

The Indians came to Tinnicum Island in answer to
his message as, a short time before, they had gone to
New Amsterdam when Stuyvesant sent for them. They
were seated in the great hall of the house and waited
gravely to hear "a talk made to them."

Rysing began by telling the Indians how much the
Swedes respected them. He reminded them of the gifts
they had received from the Swedes — many more than
the Dutch had ever given them.

The Indians replied that the Swedes had brought
much evil upon them; that many of them had died
since the Swedes had come into the country.

Rysing then gave them some presents, and after
that the Indians arose and went out.

Presently they returned; and the principal sachem,
a chief called Naaman, "made a talk." He began by
saying that the Indians had done wrong in speaking
evil of the Swedes; "for the Swedes," said he, "are
a good people ; see the presents they have brought us ;
for these they ask our friendship." He then stroked
his arm three times from the shoulder down, which
among the Indians, is a sign of friendship. He prom-
ised that the friendship between the Indians and the
Swedes should be as close as it had been in Governor
Printz's time.

"The Swedes and the Indians then," he said, "were
as one body and one heart" (and he stroked his breast
as he spoke), "and now they shall be as one head,"

4O How ONCE UPON A TIME

and he seized his head with both hands and then made
a motion as though he were tying a strong knot.

Rysing answered that this should indeed be a strong
and lasting friendship, and then the great guns of the
fort were fired.

The Indians were delighted at the noise and cried,
"Hoo, hoo, hoo; mockirick pickon!" which means,
"Hear and believe! The great guns have spoken."

After more talk great kettles were brought into the
hall filled with sappazvn, a kind of hasty pudding made
of Indian corn, and all sat down and fed heartily, and
then the Indians departed to their villages.

Rysing had thought that as soon as Stuyvesant
heard that the Swedes had taken Fort Casimir, he
would try to recapture it ; but day after day and week
after week passed peacefully by. Rysing began to be-
lieve that Stuyvesant meant to let the matter rest.

But the hot-tempered Dutchman had far other ideas
than that. He still remembered that he had been told
to keep peace with his neighbors, but he wrote an
account of the whole matter to the West India Com-
panv at home. Then he had to gather together all his
patience and wait for an answer from across the
ocean. What he most feared was that he would be told
still to keep the peace.

But when Stuyvesant's letter telling how the Swedes
had taken Fort Casimir reached Holland, the people
were aroused at last. The roll of drums sounded in
the streets of old Amsterdam. Volunteers were called
for. A ship, The Balance, was fitted out with men,

GOVERNOR STUYVESANT HAD His WAY 41

arms, ammunition and provisions, and set sail as
quickly as possible for New Netherlands.

Great was the joy of Stuyvesant to receive such an
answer as this. He too had called for volunteers, and
he had gathered together all the vessels he could ; he
had even hired a French frigate, L'Espermce, which
happened to be lying in the harbor of New Amsterdam
at that time.

About the middle of August, 1655, the little Dutch
fleet sailed out from the harbor of New Amsterdam
— seven vessels in all and carrying almost seven hun-
dred men. Stuyvesant himself was in command.

They sailed down to the Delaware Bay, in between
the capes, and up the river to a short distance above
the fort. Quietly as Stuyvesant had moved, the Indi-
ans had learned his plans some time before, and had
carried the news of them to Rysing.

Rysing had immediately sent what men and ammu-
nition he could spare to Fort Trinity, and had told
Captain Sven Schute, its commander, to fire on the
Dutch if they attempted to sail past the fort. This,
Sven Schute did not do. He allowed the Dutch to
pass by without firing a single shot, and so all com-
munication with Fort Christina was cut off.

Stuyvesant landed the Dutch soldiers on Sunday,
September 5, 1655, and sent Captain Smith with a
drummer to the fort to demand that Captain Schute
should surrender it, as it was Dutch property.

Schute, however, asked time to consider, and also
to be allowed to write to Rysing.

42 How ONCE UPON A TIME

This was refused ; and Schute was again called upon
to surrender, and so spare the shedding of innocent
blood.

A second time he refused, and a third time he was
asked to surrender; and the third time he agreed and
opened his gates to the Dutch. So it was that within
a short time after leaving New Amsterdam, the Dutch
marched to the fort with music playing and banners
flying; and so, a second time, Fort Casimir (then
Fort Trinity) was captured without a blow having
been struck or a drop of blood shed.

After capturing Fort Casimir, Stuyvesant sailed up
the river to Fort Christina and surrounded it. Rysing
had only thirty men, and around him camped almost
seven hundred Dutchmen.

Stuyvesant sent him a message by an Indian, bidding
him surrender the fort.

Rysing, by the same Indian, returned a letter beg-
ging Stuyvesant to meet him and talk the matter over.

This Stuyvesant agreed to; but he treated Rysing
in such an insolent way that it made matters harder
than ever for the Swedish governor to bear. Rysing
laid before him all the Swedish claims to the river,
and begged him to withdraw his soldiers. This, Stuy-
vesant refused to do, and again demanded the sur-
render of the fort.

Rysing would not agree to this and so returned.

On the twenty- fourth of September all the Dutch
guns were turned upon Fort Christina, and Rysing
was again called upon to surrender.

This time, seeing how useless it was to try to defend

GOVERNOR STUYVESANT HAD His WAY

43

the fort with his small force, he agreed. Such terms
as he could, he made with the Dutch.

He and his troops were allowed to march out with
drums beating, fifes playing, and colors flying, and
they were also allowed to keep their guns and ammu-
nition and all effects belonging to the Swedish Crown.
It was agreed that no Swedes were to be kept there
against their will ; but any were to be allowed to stay
one year if they wished, in order to arrange their
affairs, Rysing and his Swedes were also to have a
ship to take them back to Gottenburg in Sweden.

Thus, on September 25, 1655, our state became the
property of the Dutch, and Swedish power ended for-
ever on the banks of the Delaware.

rbrt CaSiiuvr

iua.3 lrui.lt tr fee.

f and
from "ttve Swedes •

' _ A \

44 NOTES

NOTE

i. The spot where Fort Casimir (or Trinity) once stood, is
now covered with water, the Delaware flowing over it. It was
a little north of where the town of New Castle now stands. A
boulder with an inscription has been placed near the shore, on
the road, by the Colonial Dames, to mark the vicinity of the old
fort.

How Once Upon A Time

William Penn Landed

In New Castle.

'T was in the year 1682, and Delaware had
seen many changes since Peter Minuit and
his little hand of. Swedes had landed on her
wild shores. During those years the Swedes had heen
driven out by the Dutch, and the Dutch had afterward
surrendered to the English ; then the Dutch, growing
stronger, had driven out the English; but again the
English had taken possession and now owned all oi
what had once heen New Netherlands and New
Sweden. New Netherlands was now called New York,
and it was the English Directors (living in the town
oi New York, formerly New Amsterdam), who made
the laws for Delaware.

Only a few English, however, had come to Dela-
ware to live. The people of Wilmington (once Chris-
tinaham) and of New Castle, were principally Dutch
and Swedes. They were simple farmer people, raising
crops and cattle and chickens, and they were very
willing to keep the laws that the English at New York
made for them. The Indians were still troublesome at
times, but the settlers had their block-houses or forts

49

50 How ONCE UPON A TIME

to retreat to and were generally able to protect them-
selves.

But now it had come to their ears that a new gov-
ernor was coming out from England to rule over them,
and they wondered anxiously what sort of man he
would prove to be. Governor Printz had been coarse
and violent; Governor Stuyvesant, hot-tempered, am-
bitious, and over-bearing; and terrible tales had been
told of the cruelty of Governor Kieft. There had been
a long line of governors since Minuit's time, both in
Delaware and in New York; and few of them had
seemed to care for the good of the poorer people.
And now this new man was coming and, for all they
knew, might be the worst of all.

The name of the new Governor was William Penn.
The Duke of York had given Delaware to him, and
King Charles the Second had given him a great tract
of land farther to the North, which he called Penn-
sylvania. More than this, the people did not know;
but they often talked about the new governor and
wondered what he would be like, and when he would
come, as they sat around their fires in the early fall
evenings.

Then they began to learn more about him; for his
cousin, Captain William Markham, came out to Amer-
ica to act as Governor till Penn could come himself.
They learned that Penn belonged to the Quakers — a
strange, new religious sect; and that it was the rule
that Quakers must dress very plainly and say "thee"
and "thou" to people instead of "you" and take off
their hats to nobody, not even the King himself. That

WILLIAM PENN LANDED IN NEW CASTLE 51

seemed a strange thing indeed to the settlers, and they
wondered how the King liked it.

Penn had bought the land from King Charles, and
his brother the Duke, for an absurd price — a price so
small that the poorest farmer among them all might
have bought it if he had had the chance.

For all of Pennsylvania, with its wooded hills and
fertile valleys and well-stocked streams, he had paid
only twelve shillings 1 and, at Michaelmas, was to pay
the King five shillings more.

For Delaware, he had paid ten shillings to the Duke
of York ; and every Michaelmas he was to pay to the
Duke, a rose. He was also to pay over one half of
the profits he drew from the southern part of Dela-
ware. Yes, any of the honest farmers might have
bought the land at that price, but then, the King of
England had borrowed much money from Penn's
father and this was the royal way of paying it. So it
cost William Penn's family a great sum, after all.

Captain Markham was buying for Penn, from the
Indians, such rights as they had in the land, and was
paying them well — better than they had ever been
paid before — so perhaps the new governor was a gen-
erous, fair minded man after all.

So, in talk and wonderings, the days slipped by.
September had passed, and October was almost gone,
before the governor's English ship, the Welcome, was
sighted coming up the river from the bay. The news
of its coming spread from house to house, and from
farm to farm, and even back into the country to the
villages of the Indians.

52 How ONCE UPON A TIME

All work was laid aside, and the people of New
Castle and the country round about gathered down at
the shore to watch the approach of the vessel. Captain
Markham himself was there, gorgeous in his English
uniform, having come down to New Castle to meet
his cousin.

Nearer and nearer came the ship, looming up bigger
and bigger, stately and slow, its sails spread wide, and
the English colors fluttering at its masthead. Then it
came about, and the great anchor dropped into the
water with a splash. Boats were lowered, and the
people of the vessel clambered down into them and
were rowed toward the shore.

William Penn was a tall, noble looking man, with
large, dark, kindly eyes, and hair that fell in loose
locks to his shoulders. He was very simply dressed, as
were all the men with him. The only way in which
his dress differed from theirs was that he wore a light
blue silken sash around his waist. He was worn and
thin, and some of his companions looked even ill.

This was not to be wondered at, for he told his
cousin that soon after they had set sail from England,
smallpox had broken out on board the Welcome. Of
the one hundred men who had started with him, al-
most one-third had died on the voyage. The colonists
heard afterward of the goodness of William Penn to
the sick. He himself had never had smallpox, but
every day during the voyage he went down to the bed-
sides of the sufferers. He gave them medicines, talked
with them and cheered them, and ministered to the
dying.

WILLIAM PENN LANDED IN NEW CASTLE 53

It had indeed been a terrible voyage. Fortunately,
the ship had been well stocked with provisions of every
kind, and many luxuries.2 Still, these could ease but
little the sufferings of the sick, shut up for two months
in that rolling, tossing vessel. A blessed sight the
shores and wooded hills of Delaware must have been
to those sick and weary voyagers.

When Penn himself landed next day, Captain Mark-
ham came forward eagerly to greet him. It was a
strange and varied crowd that had gathered there to
meet their governor — Swedes, Dutch, Germans and
Welsh, many of them dressed in their national cos-
tumes, and back of them the tall, red skinned Indian,
Sachem Taminent, with his party of Leni Lenapes in
their paint and feathers.

Penn was escorted by his cousin and the principal
men of the village, to the house that had been made
ready for him, there to eat and rest after his long
journey.

That day, October 28, 1682, the new governor went
to the Courthouse to speak to the people. The room
was thronged with those who crowded in to hear him.
Before he began, however, two gentlemen, John Moll
and Ephraim Herman, performed what is called "liv-
ery of seisin" ; that is, they gave to Penn earth, water,
a piece of turf, and a twig, in token that he was
ruler there of land and water and of the fruits of tree
and field.

After that, Penn spoke to the people with such kind-
ness, that their simple hearts were filled with joy. He
bade them remember that they were "but as little

54 How ONCE UPON A TIME

children in the wilderness," and under the care of one
Father. He told them that he wished to found a free
and virtuous state in which the people should learn to
rule themselves. He promised that every man in his
provinces should "enjoy liberty of conscience," and
have a voice in the ruling of the colony. Then he bade
them good-bye and returned to the ship.

The sails of the vessel were spread wide like great
wings of peace, the wind filled them, and slowly the
ship began to move. The colonists upon the shore still
lingered there, gazing after her, and straining their
eyes to see, as long as they could, the tall man that
stood there in the stern with a light blue sash around
his waist. At last they could see him no longer, and
then they turned and went back to their daily toil.

Penn did not forget them or his promise to them.
At the first General Assembly held at Chester, it was
declared that the two provinces were united, and that
the laws that governed one should be for the other too.

In 1701, Penn visited New Castle again and was
received with joy by its people.

A few years later he made the town a gift of one
thousand acres of land lying to the north of it, to be
used as a public common by its people and to belong
to them.

This tract of land still belongs to the town of New
Castle, but since 1792 it has been rented out in farms,
and is no longer a public common.

William Penn did much to bring the Indians into
truer friendship with the settlers. He treated them
justly. He trusted them and went among them un-

WILLIAM PENN LANDED IN NEW CASTLE 55

armed and unprotected. He walked with them, at-
tended their meetings and ate of their hominy and
roasted acorns. One time it happened the Indians were
showing him how they could hop and jump, and after
sitting watching them for a time, the Governor rose
up and out-jumped them all.

Penn's word was trusted by Indians and settlers
alike, and they knew their interests were as safe in
his hands as in their own.3

New Castle has just cause for pride in the fact that
William Penn's first landing in America was made
upon her shore.

56 NOTES

NOTES

1. About two dollars and a half.

2. In a list of creature comforts put on board a vessel leaving
the Delaware, on behalf of a Quaker preacher, are enumer-
ated:— 32 fowls, 7 turkeys and n ducks, 2 hams, a barrel of
China, oranges, a large keg of sweetmeats, ditto of rum, a pot
of Tamarinds, a box of spices, ditto of dried herbs, 18 cocoanuts,
a box of eggs, 6 balls of chocolate, 6 dried codfish, 5 shaddock,
6 bottles citron water, 4 bottles of Madeira, 5 dozen of good ale,
i large keg of wine and 9 pints of brandy, as well as flour,
sheep, and hogs. — Dixon's "William Penn."

3. Among the articles used in trading with the natives was
rum. The colonists at that time did not seem to see how dan-
gerous it was to let them have it. Several years, later, however,
the Friends (Quakers) had a meeting with the natives, in order
to put a stop to the sale of rum, brandy, and other liquors.
There were eight Sachems present, and one of them made this
speech.

"The strong liquor was first sold us by the Dutch, and they
are blind, they had no eyes, they did not see it was for our hurt.
The next people that came among us were the Swedes, and they
too sold strong liquors to us; they were also blind, they had no
eyes, they did not see it was hurtful to us to drink it, although
we knew it was hurtful to us; but if people will sell it to us
we are so in love with it that we cannot forbear. When we
drink it, it makes us mad ; we do not know what we do ; we then
abuse one another, we throw each other into the fire ; seven score
of our people have been killed by reason of drinking it. But
now there is a people come to live among us that have eyes,
they see it be for our hurt, and are willing to deny themselves
the profit of it for our good. Now the cask must be sealed up,
it must not leak by day or night, in light or in the dark, and
we give you these four belts of wampum to be witnesses of
this agreement." One bargain made with the Indians, included
the gift of one hundred jew's-harps.

How Once Upon A Time

Caesar Rodney Rode

For Freedom.

EARS passed, and the Coun-
ties on the Delaware,1 under
the wise laws of William
Penn,2 grew and prospered. Dover was
laid out and settled; New Castle flourished; Lewes
became a town. Instead of the rough buildings of the
early settlers, handsome country houses and comfort-
able farms were to be seen.

The manners and customs of the people were still
very plain and simple. Very few foreign articles were
used in this part of the country. Clothes were woven,
cut and sewed at home. Beef, pork, poultry, milk, but-
ter, cheese, wheat and Indian corn were raised on the
farms; the fruit trees yielded freely, and there was a
great deal of wild game; the people lived not only
comfortably but luxuriously.3

The Counties on the Delaware were very fertile,

61

62 How ONCE UPON A TIME

and very little labor was needed to make the land yield
all that was required. The people had a great deal of
leisure time for visiting and pleasure. They were al-
ways gathering together at one house or another, the
younger people to dance or frolic, and the older men
to amuse themselves with wrestling, running races,
jumping, throwing the disc and other rustic and manly
exercises.

On Christmas Eve there was a universal firing of
guns, and all through the holidays the people traveled
from house to house, feasting and eating Twelfth cake,
and playing games.4

So for years, life slipped pleasantly by in these
southern Counties, and then suddenly there came a
change. There began to be talk of war with England.
News was eagerly watched for. There was no mail at
that time. Letters were carried by stage-coach, or by
messengers riding on horseback from town to town.
In the old days, the people had been content to send
their servants for letters. Now, when a messenger, hot
and dusty, came galloping into the town, a crowd
would be waiting, and would gather round him.

And it was thrilling news that the dusty messengers
carried in those days, the days of 1775. England was
determined to tax her colonies, and the colonies were
rising in rebellion. Boston had thrown whole cargoes
of tea into her harbor rather than pay the tax on it.

Then the first shots of the Revolution were fired at
Concord and Lexington. At the sound of those shots
the Counties on Delaware awoke. Drums were beat,
muskets were cleaned, ladies sewed flags for the troops

CAESAR RODNEY RODE FOR FREEDOM 63

to carry ; men enlisted, and the militia drilled. But still
it was hoped by many that things would settle back
peaceably.

But worse and worse news came from the north.
Boston harbor had been shut up by the English. The
people were starving. Warships from England had
brought over more troops (many of them hired Ger-
mans), and had quartered them on the town. All the
country was hot with anger over these things. Food
and clothing were sent to Boston. General Washington
raised troops of a thousand men, at his own expense,
and marched north to her relief.

General Caesar Rodney was one of the important
men of Dover at that time. He was a tall, pale, strange
looking man, with flashing eyes, and a face, as we are
told, "no larger than a good sized apple." He was a
general in the militia, and was heart and soul for inde-
pendence. He rode about the country, calling meetings,
speaking to the people, and urging them to enlist, and
urging them, too, to raise money to give to the gov-
ernment. He was at this time suffering from a painful
disease, but he spared neither strength nor comfort in
the cause of freedom.

Mr. George Read of New Castle was a very impor-
tant man in the colonies, too. He was a patriot, and
belonged to the militia, but he was very anxious not
to begin a war. He agreed that the time might come
when the colonies would have to be free, but he thought
that time had not yet come. He hoped that when it
did, the colonies might win their freedom peaceably,
and not by battle and bloodshed. He was a calm, quiet,

64 How ONCE UPON A TIME

learned man, rather slow of speech, and different in
many ways from his quick and fiery friend, Rodney.

A third man who was important in Colonial times
was Mr. Thomas McKean. He was a lawyer in New
Castle, and was a friend of both these men. Like Rod-
ney, he was for freedom at any cost.

In 17/6, when the Colonial Congress was called to
meet in Philadelphia, these three men, Rodney, Read
and McKean, were sent to it as delegates by the Coun-
ties on the Delaware.5

This meeting of Congress in the summer of 1776
was the most important meeting that had ever been
held. From north and south the delegates came riding
to it, from all the thirteen colonies; and they met in
the Committee Room of the State House in Phila-
delphia,

Many serious questions were to be decided by these
delegates this year. But the most serious of all the
questions was whether the Colonies should declare
themselves free and independent states. If they did
this, it would mean war with England.

While the question was still argued about in the
committee room, Caesar Rodney was sent for to come
back to the Counties on the Delaware. Riots and quar-
rels and disturbances had broken out there, and no
one could quiet them as well as Caesar Rodney. He
was very glad to go, for it seemed as though it might
be a long time before the delegates would decide on
anything, and he hoped to be able to raise some money
for the government.

He started out early one morning on horseback,

CAESAR RODNEY RODE FOR FREEDOM 65

cantering easily along through the cool of the day.
It was eighty miles from Philadelphia to Dover, and
he broke it by stopping overnight at New Castle,
which was rather more than half way home. The road
he took was the old King's Highroad, which ran on
down through the Counties on Delaware, through Wil-
mington and New Castle and Dover, as far as Lewes.

General Rodney found a great deal to do down in
the Counties. The Whigs and Tories had come to
blows. One Tory gentleman only just escaped being
tarred and feathered, and carried on a rail. Caesar
Rodney was the one who had to quiet all the troubles.
Beside this he made speeches, raised moneys and
helped get together fresh troops of militia.

But busy though he was, he managed to find some
time for visiting about among his friends. Especially
he found time to visit at the house of a young Quaker
widow named Sarah Rowland. Mistress Rowland
lived in Lewes. She was a Tory, but she was very
beautiful and witty, and Caesar Rodney was said to
be in love with her. He might often have been seen,
between his busy times, cantering along the road that
led to Lewes and to her house. Mistress Rowland, as
a Quaker, believed all fighting to be wrong, but she
was always friendly with the General. Perhaps she
hoped in some way to be able to help the Tories by
things the General told her, or by having him at her
house. At any rate she always made him welcome.

Now, while General Rodney was still busy down in
the Counties on the Delaware, with his work and
pleasure, great things were happening in Philadelphia.

66 How ONCE UPON A TIME

The Declaration of Independence was finally drawn
up and written out.

It was laid on the table before the Colonial Con-
gress, and the delegates were given five days to make
up their minds to agree, whether they would sign it
or not. They considered and discussed it in secret be-
hind closed doors.

One after another, the delegates from various colo-
nies agreed to sign. At last, only the Counties on the
Delaware were needed to carry the agreement. They
could not sign the Declaration, for they had now only
two delegates present at Congress. Of these, one
(McKean) was for it, and one (Mr. Read) was
against it, so it was a tie between them, and Rodney,
whose vote could have decided the matter, was down
in the Counties on Delaware, eighty miles away.

McKean was in despair. He sent message after mes-
sage down to Delaware, begging the General to return
to Philadelphia and give his deciding vote, but no
answer came. The fact was that General Rodney did
not receive any of these messages McKean sent. He
was visiting Mistress Rowland in Lewes at the time,
and she managed to keep the letters back from him.
She hoped that he might know nothing about the
Declaration until it had been voted on and the whole
matter decided. Even if all the other Colonies decided
to sign, it would weaken the union very much if the
Colonies on the Delaware did not sign.

On the third of July, McKean sent a last message
down to Rodney, passionately begging him to come to

CAESAR RODNEY RODE FOR FREEDOM 67

Philadelphia. The vote of the delegates was to be
taken July the fourth, and if the General was not
there the vote of the Counties on Delaware could not
be cast for the Declaration of Independence, and it
might be lost.

On this same day, July the third, 1776, Caesar Rod-
ney was chatting with Mistress Rowland in the parlor
of her house at Lewes, so one tradition goes. It had
seemed strange to him that he had not heard from
McKean lately, but he felt sure that if anything impor-
tant were happening at Philadelphia he would receive
word at once. So he put his anxieties aside and laughed
and talked with the widow.

Suddenly, the parlor door was thrown open and a
maid-servant came into the room. She crossed over to
where General Rodney was sitting. "There !" she cried.
"I'm an honest girl and I won't keep those back any
longer!" and she threw a packet of letters into the
General's lap.

Rodney picked them up and looked at them. They
were in Mr. McKean's hand-writing. Hastily he ran
through them. They were the letters Sarah Rowland
had been keeping back, — the letters begging and im-
ploring him to hasten north to Philadelphia.

Without a word, General Rodney started to his feet,
and ran out to where his horse was standing before
the house.6 Sarah Rowland called to him, but he did
not heed her. He sprang to the saddle and gathered
up the reins, and a moment later he was galloping
madly north toward Dover. It was a long ride, but a

68 How ONCE UPON A TIME

longer still was before him. The heat was stifling, and
the dust rose in clouds as he thundered along the
King's Highroad.

At Dover, he stopped to change his horse, and here
he was met by McKean's last messenger, with a letter,
urging him to haste, haste. Indeed, there was not an
hour to waste. Philadelphia was eighty miles away,
and the vote was to be taken the next morning.

On went Rodney on his fresh horse. Daylight was
gone. The moon sailed slowly up the sky, and the trees
were clumps of blackness on either hand as he rode.

At Chester, he again changed horses, but he did not
stop for either rest or food. Soon, he was riding on
again.

It was in the morning of July fourth, that the rider,
exhausted and white with dust, drew rein before the
State House door in Philadelphia. McKean was there
watching for him.

"Am I in time?" called Rodney as he swung him-
self from his horse.

"In time, but no more," answered McKean.

Side by side he and Rodney entered Independence
Hall. There sat the delegates in a semi-circle. Rodney
and McKean took their places. The Declaration of
Independence lay on the table before them. It was
being voted on. One after the other the colonies were
called on and one after another they gave their votes
for it. The Counties on Delaware were called on. Mr.
McKean rose and voted for it. Mr. Read was, as usual
against it.

Then Caesar Rodney rose in his place. His face

CAESAR RODNEY RODE FOR FREEDOM

69

looked white and worn under its dust, but he spoke
in a clear, firm voice. "I vote for Independence."

And so the day was won. From the belfry of Inde-
pendence Hall, the bells pealed out over the Quaker
City, Bonfires blazed out, people shouted for joy, and
the thirteen American Colonies, strong in union, stood
pledged together for liberty.

70 NOTES

NOTES

1. It was not until after the Declaration of Independence that
these "Counties upon the Delaware" received the name of Dela-
ware State, and not until 1792 that it was called the "State of
Delaware."

2. Edmund Burke spoke of Penn's Charter to his colonies of
Pennsylvania and Delaware as "a noble charter of privileges, by
which he made the people more free than any people on earth,
and which by securing both civil and religious liberty caused the
eyes of the oppressed from all parts of the world to look on his
counties for relief."

3. This account of the life in Delaware before the Revolu-
tionary War is taken from a letter from Thomas Rodney, a
younger brother of Caesar Rodney.

4. The land upon which Dover stands was bought from the
Indians in 1697, for two match coats, twelve bottles of drink
and four handfuls of powder.

5. Rodney, Read and McKean were appointed Delegates in
March, 1775.

6. While Caesar Rodney's famous ride is a story of which
Delaware is proud, the exact time when he started, and the place
he started from have been much disputed. One tradition says
that he left Sarah Rowland's house at Lewes, and another tra-
dition insists that he started from his own house near Dover.
As for the hours of starting and arrival, the archives show how
different the versions are. After much thought and trouble, the
Colonial Dames have decided to choose the most detailed tra-
dition as being possibly also the most accurate. They do not
claim to decide the matter, which will always, probably, remain
unsolved.

The following was the Congress express rider's time from
Lewes to Philadelphia: Leave Lewes at noon, reach Wilming-
ton next day at 4 o'clock, A.M. Or leave Lewes at 7 o'clock,
P.M., Cedar Creek, 10:30; Dover, 4:15; Cantwell's Bridge, 9:05;
Wilmington, 12:55; Chester, 2:37; arrive Philadelphia 4 o'clock
P.M., or 21 hours. (See American Archives.)

How Once Upon A Time

The Row-Galleys Fought

The Roebuck.

HE little town of Lewes is on Delaware Bay,
with rolling dunes of sand between it and the
ocean. The winds that blow over it have the
smell and taste of salt in them, and in the sky over-
head, the grey seagulls soar and hover.

There was a time, long ago, when pirates sailed the
Delaware waters. Sometimes they landed there, and
drank and plundered and put the people in fear of
their lives. There is a story that Captain Kidd buried
much treasure somewhere among these dunes.

But that was long before the American colonies
went to war with England, and in Revolutionary times
it was not pirates that Lewes was afraid of, but Eng-
lish warships.

From Delaware Bay the Delaware River lies, wide
and open, all the way to Philadelphia. An enemy's
ship that entered the bay could easily sail on up the
bay and river, past New Castle, Wilmington and
Chester, — and might bombard Philadelphia from the
water-front. This was what the Committee of Safety

75

76 How ONCE UPON A TIME

feared the British would do when the Revolutionary
War began, so a guard was set at Henlopen light
house.

It was in the last week of March of the year 1776,
that the first British war vessel entered Delaware Bay.
This vessel was a frigate called "Roebuck." She came
sailing slowly in, the black mouths of her guns threat-
ening the town, and anchored in the bay. Her tender
followed her, and she too was armed with guns.

Then all Lewes was in a stir. Messengers were sent
riding in hot haste to Philadelphia, and all along the
way they spread the news that the British ships had
arrived. Colonel John Haslet came marching down to
Lewes at the head of the Delaware militia, so as to
be ready to protect the town against the English, in
case they tried to land.

This, however, the British did not try to do. They
cruised up and down in the "Roebuck," or lay at
anchor in the bay,

They managed to capture a pilot boat named the
"Alarm," near Lewes, and they fitted her out as a
second tender. A little later they made a prize of an
American sloop called the "Plymouth." All the men
from the tender were put on board this new prize
except a lieutenant and three soldiers who were still
left on the "Alarm," to take care of her. But that
night the helmsman on the "Alarm" fell asleep; the
boat drifted on shore, and the lieutenant and his men
were taken prisoner by the Americans.

There had as yet been no shots exchanged between
the Americans and the English. But one bright, clear
Sunday morning in April, word was brought to Colonel

THE ROW-GALLEYS FOUGHT THE ROEBUCK 77

Haslet that an American schooner had anchored just
off the shore below Cape Henlopen. The captain wished
him to send men to help unload her. She carried sup-
plies for the Americans.

Unluckily, news of the schooner reached the British,
too, and at the same time that Haslet's men started
by land to help the captain unload, the British tender
started by sea.

The Americans made all the haste they could, but
they were obliged to cross a creek before they could
reach the place where the schooner lay. The country
people brought boats and ferried them over, but the
soldiers soon saw that the tender was out-racing them.

The captain of the schooner saw this, too, and rather
than have his cargo fall into the hands of the British,
he set his sails, and ran ashore.

As soon as the American soldiers arrived they began
to fire at the tender, but she kept too far away for
their bullets to reach her. Seeing this, they laid aside
their muskets and set to work to help the sailors unload
the schooner.

The tender kept firing at them all the while they
were unloading, but her shots fell harmlessly in the
sand. Several of the soldiers picked up the balls as
they fell, and carried them home to show to their
families.

The tender now sent a barge back to summon the
"Roebuck," and presently, the frigate came sailing
around the Cape at full speed to help the tender. She
swept down toward the schooner like a great bird, but
presently she found she was running into shoal water.
She was obliged to come to anchor just off the Hen-

78 How ONCE UPON A TIME

and-Chicken shoals, but from there she began to fire
at the soldiers and the schooner.

The Americans now turned the schooner's guns on
the frigate and tender. They saw a gunner on the
frigate throw up his arms and fall. A number of the
English were wounded, but not a single American was
hurt. Presently, the frigate, finding it a losing game,
sailed back around the Cape and out of reach.

No more shots were exchanged between the English
and American vessels until May. Early in that month
the "Roebuck" was joined by the sloop "Liverpool,"
and the two with their tenders sailed straight up the
bay and river toward Wilmington. Then they moved
to and fro, between Chester and New Castle.

News of their coming went before them. At New
Castle, houses were closed, and the people loaded their
goods in wagons and carriages and fled back into the
country.

At Wilmington, a number of row-galleys (some
thirteen in number) were gathered and furnished with
guns and ammunition, and were made ready in every
way to give battle to the enemy. The galleys were
under the command of Captain Houston, of Phila-
delphia.

It was on the morning of the eighth of May, that
the British sails were seen coming up the river. Great
crowds of people had gathered on the banks to watch
the battle.

It was not until the British vessels were almost
opposite Christiana creek that the firing began. The
dull boom of the guns echoed and re-echoed from the
wooded hills of the Brandywine. Great puffs of grey

THE ROW-GALLEYS FOUGHT THE ROEBUCK 79

smoke drifted across the water. Sometimes the vessels
were almost hidden.

In the midst of the battle, four Wilmington boys
started out from the shore, armed with some old mus-
kets that they had somehow got hold of. They boldly
rowed out through the smoke until they were directly
under the stern of the "Liverpool," and then they
began to fire at her. Presently, an officer on the sloop
saw them.

"Captain," he called to his commanding officer, "do
you see those young rebels? Shall I fire on them?"

The brave old Captain Bellew shook his head. "No,
no," he cried; "don't hurt the boys. Let them break
the cabin windows if they want to."

That indeed, was about all the damage the young
patriots were able to do. When they had used up their
ammunition, they rowed back to the shore again unhurt.

While the firing was still at the hottest, a major of
artillery came riding at full speed. He threw himself
from his horse, and begged a couple of boatmen who
were standing with the crowd, to row him out to the
galleys; he wished to have a chance to fire a shot at
the enemy.

The boatmen refused. They were afraid they might
get shot, but when the major promised them a handful
of money they changed their minds and agreed to row
to the nearest galley.

As soon as the major was on board the boat, he
stationed himself at a gun and began to fire it off,
and as he proved to be a very good shot he was al-
lowed to stay there. After a while he called for more
ammunition, but was told that it had all been used.

8o How ONCE UPON A TIME

The gallant officer pulled off his boots, filled them with
powder, rammed them into the gun and fired it for
the last time. In after life his boast was that he had
not only been in the first naval battle of the war, but
that he had fired his boots at the enemy.

On all the galleys the officers showed the greatest
bravery. The British had at first looked with contempt
at the open boats that had come to fight them. It did
not take many shots, however, to teach them that these
American galleys were not to be despised.

A part of the "Roebuck's" rigging was shot away
and her sides were badly damaged by the balls. Finally,
in trying to get nearer to the galleys she ran aground,
near the mouth of the Christiana creek. She now
keeled over in such a way that she could no longer
use her guns. Night came and she still lay there, unable
to get off into deep water, or to right herself. The
great fear of her men was that the galleys might come
to attack her while she lay there helpless, so they sent
out three small boats and kept them circling around
her all night to watch out for an attack. If the Ameri-
cans had come, it was the plan of the English to fill
the small boats with as many of the "Roebuck's" men
as they could, and send them over to the "Liverpool."
The "Liverpool" was then to retreat down the river.
However, the night passed quietly, and at four o'clock
in the morning the water had risen so that they were
able to get the "Roebuck" off.

In the morning, the row-galleys returned to the
attack, though they had been very much damaged the
day before. But their men were as determined as ever,
and they had a fresh supply of ammunition. One of

THE ROW-GALLEYS FOUGHT THE ROEBUCK 81

their shots went clear through the bows of the "Roe-
buck," and a number of her men were wounded. One
of the officers was killed,

The British now decided to retreat. Very slowiy
they drew off and drifted down the river. On their
way they tried to destroy the little town of Port Penn,
but they could not get near enough to the shore; the
water was too shallow.

When they reached Lewes they lay there for some
time, while the ship's carpenters mended the holes
made by the American shots. They took on fresh water
and provisions, and then sailed out from the Delaware
waters.

So ended the first naval battle of the Revolution;
a battle fought in Delaware waters. One other sea
fight was fought there, and it was the last one of the
war. It was between the American sloop of war
"Hyder Alley," and the British sloop "General Monk,"
and in this, too, the British were defeated. It was not
an important battle, but it seemed a curious chance
that the first and the last sea-fights of the Revolution
should both have been in Delaware waters.

How Once Upon A Time

The Blue Hen's Chickens

Went To War.

Hims.. ••--*. — RjiBkii.',.,', jJir^ B h-sl _n >

r at Vail e>y R>ro e

AR had begun, — war between the
United Colonies of America, with
their small, poorly armed forces, and
England, the richest and most powerful country in
the world.

From all the thirteen colonies of America, regi-
ments marched away to join General Washington and
the little army he had already gathered together.

Delaware sent her regiment with the rest. It was
under the command of Colonel John Haslet.1 Men
had come from all over the state to enlist in it. They
carried whatever weapons they could get, — rifles, car-
bines, muskets or fowling pieces. A few of them had
uniforms, but some of them had not even coats, and
so came in their shirt sleeves.

The regiment set out from Dover to the sound of
fife and drum. Their flag waved gaily over them and
the people crowded the streets, and waved and cheered
to see them go.

It was a long, hot march from Dover up to New*

8s

86 How ONCE UPON A TIME

York, where General Washington was encamped. The
soldiers soon grew footsore and weary, marching, as
they did, from early dawn till night. Sometimes when
they passed a stream they broke ranks to kneel on its
bank and drink the cool, running water. Sometimes the
farmers came out and handed them summer fruits
and vegetables as they passed, and as they went
through the towns the people cheered and waved their
handkerchiefs to them.

At last they reached New York, but they had no
sooner arrived than the whole regiment was ordered
to cross the river and join General Stirling's brigade
in Brooklyn. Stirling was expecting an attack from
the British at any time, and he needed all the troops
he could get.

Before the regiment had left Delaware, Colonel
Haslet had begun to drill them, and as soon as they
were settled in Brooklyn the drill began again. The
men were kept at it until their bones ached and they
were ready to drop with weariness, but it was this
constant drilling that brought the Delaware regiment
into shape, and afterward won for it the name of "the
picked regiment of the Continental Army."

One evening when the men were resting around the
fires, one of their comrades came out from a tent
carrying two game-cocks by the legs. Somehow he had
managed to bring them up from Delaware with him.
They were of a bluish grey color, and were of a breed
well known in Kent County, and called "Blue Game
Chickens."

When the soldiers saw the two cocks they shouted

THE BLUE HEN'S CHICKENS WENT To WAR 87

for joy. "A chicken-fight ! A chicken-fight !" they cried.
"We'll have a chicken-fight. Where did you get them,
Bill?"

Bill threw the cocks into the middle of the ring.
For a moment they stood looking about with their
bright eyes. Then they lowered their heads and ruffled
their feathers. The next moment they flew at each
other and fought furiously but before they could in-
jure each other they were separated and shut up in
boxes.

"That's the way we've got to fight," cried Bill,
"We're sons of the old Blue Hen, and we're game
to the end."

"That's what we are/' shouted the others. "We're
the Blue Hen's Chickens, the fighting breed." And
from that night that was the name by which the plucky
Delaware regiment went — The Blue Hen's Chickens.

The Delaware regiment 2 was soon to prove its
courage. It was August twenty-seventh, about five days
after they had arrived in Brooklyn, that they first
went under fire.

On the twenty-sixth, General Stirling had received
news that the next morning the British meant to attack
his forces. They would begin the attack very early.

It was not yet light when the Delaware regiment,
shivering with excitement, was marched out, and sta-
tioned near an orchard. In this orchard the Maryland
regiment was placed but just where the British troops
were they did not know.

It was too dark to see anything at first, but there
were sounds that made them know that somewhere

88 How ONCE UPON A TIME

there in the darkness, the enemy was moving and
marching. Presently, a faint light began to show in the
sky. There were shots in the distance. Then they saw
through the growing light a great dark moving mass
opposite to them. Nearer and nearer it came, and now
they could see long lines of the Hessians; the light
glittered on the brass fronts of their immense caps.

They were coming!

The Maryland and Delaware regiments opened fire,
and here and there they saw a Hessian throw up his
arms and fall, but immediately the ranks rilled up,
and on they came at a steady, quick step, The Dela-
ware regiment had found some shelter behind an old
fence.

"Fix bayonets!" There was a rattle and clash as the
bayonets of the Delawares slipped into place. "For-
ward, charge!" Out from their shelter sprang the Dela-
ware soldiers. They charged upon the Hessians, but
they were met by such a steady front that for a mo-
ment they wavered.

There is a story that the captain of a company
sprang forward and caught the Delaware flag from
the flag bearer; he flung it over into the midst of the
Hessian regiment.

A long roar followed as the Delaware men flung
themselves forward, mad to recover their flag. Before
that fierce rush, the Hessians wavered and broke ; they
tried to recover and then turned and fled. Be that as
it may be, the flag of Delaware waved proudly over
the heads of the Blue Hen's Chickens.

The Maryland regiment had also charged, and now

THE BLUE HEN'S CHICKENS WENT To WAR 89

they and the Delaware soldiers stood drawn up on a
hill. The guns of the enemy were turned upon them,
but their colors were flying. Other regiments of the
American army had been forced to retreat, but these
gallant little bands did not think of quitting their place.
At last an express order came from the General com-
manding them to retreat. Then, and not till then, they
fell back. Their flags were almost cut to pieces with
shot, but the Delaware regiment retreated in such good
order that they lost but few men.3 The Marylanders
were not so lucky, as many of them were taken pris-
oners or killed.

This victory seemed to satisfy the British for the
time. They took up their quarters in Trenton and then
they led a merry life, feasting and drinking. They
stole as they liked from all the country round, and the
poor country people were helpless. If they resisted they
were shot down like dogs.

So the autumn and the first part of December
passed. Upon the other side of the river from Trenton,
the American forces were encamped. December was
bitterly cold. Many of our men had no shoes. Food
and blankets were scarce. The men kept the fires going
day and night.

The day before Christmas, word was passed through
the American encampment that on Christmas morning
they would cross the river and attack the English. The
men cheered when they heard that news.

Christmas day dawned cold and dark and snowy.
In the chill morning the men were marched, company
after company, down to the flat boats that lay on the

How ONCE UPON A TIME

river, and were rowed over to the other side. Men and
horses huddled together, trying to get some warmth
from each other. The bitter wind whistled past their
ears, and the sleet cut their faces.

On the Trenton side the troops were landed, and
then began a seven mile tramp through the snow. The
men struggled through the drifts, blinded by the sleet.
Their hands were almost frozen to their muskets.

As they drew near the British encampment they
were halted for a rest. They stood there in the snow,
panting and leaning on their muskets. They could hear,
through the snowy air, the ringing of the bells, and
the shouts of the British soldiers. A gun was fired.
They almost thought they heard a roar of laughter.
The British were making merry at Christmas with no
thought that their enemies were so near.

"Silence, and forward!" — the muffled order passed
along the line.

The soldiers again shouldered their muskets and
marched on. The deep drifts muffled their footsteps
and the falling snow hid them like a curtain. Two
hundred yards from the British encampment they were
formed in line and the order rang out, "Forward,
charge !"

Down upon the encampment they swept, running,
leaping, stumbling through the drifts.

There was a wild alarm in the British camp, and a
scramble for muskets, but the surprise was too sudden
for them. They could not escape, and within half an
hour the Americans had made one thousand of them
prisoners; they had also captured one thousand mus-
kets, and sixteen hundred blankets. Many a poor lad,

THE BLUE HEN'S CHICKENS WENT To WAR 91

for the first time in weeks, slept warm that Christmas
night in British blankets.

When the cities heard of the great victory their
army had won at Trenton, bells were rung and bon-
fires were lighted ; they went mad with joy.

The battle of Princeton, which followed soon after,
was an even greater victory for the Americans. But
Delaware could not share in the rejoicings that fol-
lowed, for her brave regiment was almost cut to pieces
in that battle. Of the eight hundred men who fought
that day barely one hundred were left, and Colonel
Haslet was killed by a shot through the head.

Washington now called for more troops, and again
Delaware gathered together a regiment and sent it
north to join him.

The men under Hall were with Washington in the
battle of Brandywine, when his forces were terribly
defeated, and also in the battle at Germantown; and
they went with him into winter quarters at Valley
Forge.

Though the troops had suffered at Trenton the
winter before, it was nothing to their sufferings at
Valley Forge. They built themselves rough log huts,
which gave them some shelter, and they had plenty of
wood to burn, but food was scarce. The death of a
horse was hailed with joy, for then they could have
meat. Their clothing fell into rags, and they had noth-
ing to sleep on but the bare earthen floors of their
huts. Washington sent out orders to all the farmers
round to thresh out their grain, and let the soldiers
have the straw to sleep on.4

Almost every day the General went from hut to

92 How ONCE UPON A TIME

hut, cheering and encouraging his soldiers as best he
could.

One day he saw a soldier tramping barefoot through
the snow. His foot prints were marked with blood.
Washington unfastened his cloak and held it out to
the man, "Here, my poor fellow," he said, "tear this
into strips and bind it around your feet."

The soldier refused the cloak with a laugh. "That's
all right, General," he said. "I don't need it. As long
as my feet are bleeding I know they're not frozen."

Not all of the men could bear the suffering and
hunger however. Many died, and still more deserted.
In February there were in camp only about five thou-
sand men able to work and carry arms. The regiment
of Delaware was among the faithful ones who stayed
through it all.

It was with joy that the American soldiers saw the
coming of spring. On clear days they stretched them-
selves out in the sun and felt fresh life warming their
bodies. Thin, sickly and ragged, they still found
strength to joke and laugh.

The British troops, who had spent the winter in
Philadelphia, were in fine condition. They had been
well fed and housed, and had spent their time in merry-
making and balls, while our poor men were starving
in their huts.

In April, I78o,5 our army was again on the move.
The Delaware and Maryland regiments were ordered
south under Baron DeKalb, to join General Greene's
army, which was fighting there. It was in this Southern
campaign that the Delaware regiment won its greatest

THE BLUE HEN'S CHICKENS WENT To WAR 93

glory. The Blue Hen's Chickens were in many battles
and skirmishes, and in all they bore themselves with
the greatest bravery.

Then, in August, came the battle of Camden, Southt
Carolina. It was the battle in which the Delaware regi-
ment proved themselves bravest, and the last in which
they were to fight as a separate regiment.

Cornwallis had determined to attack our forces early
in the morning of the fifteenth.

All that night the two armies lay opposite to each
other, waiting for the daylight. The American forces
had more men than the British, but many of them
were raw recruits, and many were deserters. Corn-
wallis's men were in good condition, and were almost
all veteran fighters.

Before dawn the British began to take their posi-
tions and prepare for an attack, and the Americans
made ready to meet them.

In the early dawning the first charge was made.
The Americans saw the forces charging down upon
them. The Virginia militia were seized with a panic.
The order came to fire. Hardly knowing what they
did, they fired one shot and then threw down their
arms and ran. The North Carolina regiment saw them
running, and without even one shot, they, too, threw
away their muskets and ran. Only the Delaware men,
the Marylanders and one North Carolina regiment
were left to bear the brunt of the attack.

DeKalb now gave the order to his men to charge
with bayonets. Fiercely the Delaware and Maryland
regiments charged upon the enemy, — so fiercely that

94 How ONCE UPON A TIME

they broke the British line. But the British guns poured
on them volleys of grape and canister. It was more
than our men could bear. They were obliged to retreat.
Again came the order to charge, and again they threw
themselves against those solid ranks of the British,
and were driven back. Three times they charged, and
then, almost cut to pieces, they were obliged to retreat.
Of the brave regiment of Delaware, a mere handful
of men was left. Baron deKalb himself had fallen,
with eleven wounds.

So ended the terrible battle of Camden. After it was
over, many of the Americans hid themselves in the
swamps and woods for a time. The few Delaware
soldiers who were left joined the Virginia regiment.
They fought with them through the rest of the war,
and when peace was declared Virginia offered to each
of them one hundred acres of ground if they would
settle there. However, they preferred to return to their
own state and people.

The prisoners who were taken were sent to Charles-
ton. Among them was Major Patten, a gallant officer.
He had taken with him into the war his own body
servant, a negro, and had entrusted to him all his
clothes. When the battle was over the negro had dis-
appeared and Major Patten never saw him again. He
entered Charleston a prisoner, and in rags. There were
many loyal ladies there however, and they made him
a set of shirts and did for him what they could. He
was very handsome and gay, and as he was allowed
a great deal of liberty, he became a great favorite.
After the war was ended, he returned to his home

THE BLUE HEN'S CHICKENS WENT To WAR 95

near Dover and showed with pride some of these shirts
which had been made for him by the Charleston ladies.
He was more fortunate than many of the other
soldiers. Some of them returned in rags, to find their
farms and homesteads fallen almost into ruin. Some
had lost their health or were sufferings from wounds.
But one thing our Delaware men had won, — the glory
of having made part of that regiment fittingly called
the "picked regiment of the Continental Army/' 6

96 NOTES

NOTES

1. This regiment was composed of eight companies and num-
bered eight hundred men.

Haslet has well been called the father of the first Delaware
regiment. He raised it before the Declaration of Independence
was declared, and drilled it himself, taking the greatest pride in
it. He was a native of Ireland, but at the time of the Revolu-
tionary War was living at Dover, where his remains now lie.

2. Haslet's regiment, as will be hereafter seen, remained in'
the army only up to the battle of Princeton.

Patterson's was a part of the "Flying Camp," a body of men
called out for temporary duty . . . The regiment of Hall was
the only Continental one we furnished.

3. Brigadier General Thomas Mifflin wrote to Mr. Reed in
January of 1777, "The officers (of the Delaware Regiment) in
particular deserve the thanks and esteem of their country for
the readiness shown by them to turn out on all occasions."

"One paragraph of the old man's letter is very full of the great
honor obtained by the Delaware Battalion in the affair at Long
Island. From the unparalleled bravery they showed in view of
all the Generals and troops within the lines, who alternate!}
praised and pitied them."

Letter from Caesar Rodney to his brother.

Through the Revolutionary War, Delaware furnished more
men in proportion to its size than any other colony in the Union.

4. "Nothing," said a report addressed to the President of
Congress, "Nothing, sir, can equal their sufferings except the
patience and fortitude with which the faithful part of the army
endure them."

5. From the time the Delaware regiment started south, that is
April I3th, 1780, until April 7th, 1782, they marched 5006 miles.

6. In less than a month after the Declaration of Independ-
ence, Delaware had eight hundred men in the field, who fought
at Brooklyn, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton. By April,
1777, we had another regiment of like number who fought at
Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, — twice at
Camden, — Cowpens, Guilford, and at Eutaw; and it never laid
down its arms, though reduced almost to a corporal's guard,
until Cornwallis laid down his arms at Yorktown.

How Once Upon A Time

Washington Came

To Delaware.

Stars and Stribes were, first xiniurlei ia battle

• - -

T one time Washington had his headquar-
ters in Wilmington. It was late in the sum-
mer of 1777 and just before the Battle of
Brandywine.

A few weeks earlier the British fleet had sailed out
of New York harbor and had turned toward the south,
with all the British army on board. No one knew
where the fleet was going; no one knew where the
army would land and make their next attack, and
there was great anxiety.

General Washington and his army were at this time
camped in Bucks county, north of Philadelphia. It
was on August twenty-second that a hot and dusty
messenger galloped into camp with news for the Gen-
eral that the British fleet had been seen in Chesapeake
Bay.

As soon as Washington heard this news, orders
were given to the army to break camp, and he marched
with them down to Delaware, to be ready to meet the
enemy, and to keep them from attacking Philadelphia,
for that was then the capital of the colonies.

101

KM How ONCE UPOX A TIME

Wilmington at that time was still a small town. It
had a few shops, a market house, and a fire engine
company called the ''Friendship.'" A new ship-building
company had just built and launched their first boat,
which was named the ""Wilmington/' But the most
important of all the manufactories were the Brandy-

;-.e flour mills, which stood on the Brandywine, some
little distance above where it flows into the Christiana.1
Washington had the ''"runners" (or upper stones)
taken from these mills and hauled up into Chester
Count}* for fear they might be seized and used by the
British.

Wilmington is yen,- hilly. It has been said of it that
it is "as full of lumps as a napkin thrown over a black-
berry bush."

The steep part of West Street that slopes up from
Front to Fourth was called "Quaker Hill," for almost
all the houses that were there were owned by Quakers.
The houses were built in a prim, plain fashion, but
within they were full of comfort. Furniture, linen,
food, were simple but of the best quality for the
Friends knew how to live comfortably, in spite of
their plain ways.

It was in one of these houses that Washington made
his headquarters. The house is still standing, on the
west side of the street, between Third and Fourth
Streets

A little beyond Quaker Hill was an old apple or-
chard, and still beyond that were the open country and
the wooded hills of the Brandywine.

It was near the Brandywine that the army encamped.

WASHINGTON CAME To DELAWARE 103

In the next few days the soldiers might often be seen
kneeling on the edge of the stream to wash their pieces
of clothing. Their voices echoed through the woods in
loud jokes and laughter. Sometimes a trooper in buff
and blue brought a dozen clattering horses down to
the water to drink.

Washington was busy sending and receiving dis-
patches, riding out to explore the country, and decid-
ing where the best points were upon which to place
his army.

By September the second, our army had been moved
to the high lands near Newport, a few miles from
Wilmington. In the afternoon of that day orders were
given to cook provisions and to be ready to march at
any time. The enemy were then near Newark, Dela-
ware, but Washington had not yet been able to learn
how many there were of them, nor where they meant
to attack. However he sent a light corps (of about
seven hundred and twenty men) down in their direc-
tion. These men were able to hide in the woods and
hollows, and to act as outposts in case the British
marched toward Newark.

It was the next day, September the third, that the
British began to advance toward White Clay creek, —
a creek which lay between them and the Americans.
For some miles above Newark the road was open,
with fields and meadows on either hand, and the Brit-
ish marched along it undisturbed. But when the road
dipped into the woods, the bullets began to sing about
their ears like bees. Several of the British were
wounded, for the American riflemen had hidden in the

IO4 How ONCE UPON A TIME

thickets and hollows of the woods and were shooting
at them. The Americans were so well hidden that the
British scarcely knew where to turn their fire. Some
of the British companies left the road to look for
them but got lost in a swamp, and had difficulty in
finding their way back to firm ground.

For some miles this fire continued, but by the time
the British had reached the Christiana creek, near
Cooch's Mill, the shots had almost stopped.

The bridge across the stream lay still and peaceful
in the sunlight. There was no sound but the ripple of
the water against the rocks, and a cow lowing in the
distance.

The first company of the English had hardly set
foot on the bridge, however, when a hot fire of bullets
poured out at them from the thickets beside the stream.
A company of American riflemen had been lying there
in ambush, and waiting for them. A moment later the
Americans sprang out into the road with cheers, and
charged upon them.

A sharp skirmish followed, but the British were too
strong, and our men were driven back leaving several
killed and wounded. The British, too, had their losses,
though their loss was not as heavy as that of the
Americans.

This skirmish at Cooch's bridge was the first warn-
ing Washington had that the British had advanced
their army.

Knowing the British were only a few miles from
him, Washington now expected an attack at any time,
and decided to move his army to a high rise in the

WASHINGTON CAME To DELAWARE 105

ground near Red Clay creek, which was a better posi-
tion.

Mr. Caleb Byrnes, a miller, had a house on this
high ground. Very early on the morning of September
the seventh, he was awakened by the tramp of march-
ing feet, the sound of loud voices shouting orders, and
the clatter and rumble of gun wagons.

He slipped from bed and crossed to the window
and looked out. There below, he saw long lines and
companies of soldiers in buff and blue. Their bayonets
glittered in the sunlight. Sweating horses were pulling
cannon up the slope in front of the house.

Mrs. Byrnes slipped from bed and came over to
look from the window, too. She was shivering with
excitement.

"It's the whole American army," said Byrnes. He
told his wife to waken the children and then he dressed
as quickly as he could and hurried downstairs and out
of the house.

An officer on horseback was there giving orders.
The cannon had now been placed all along the high
ground "for half a mile as thick as they could stand." 2

As soon as the officer saw Mr. Byrnes, he rode over
to him and said, "You'd better get out of here as soon
as you can. When the battle begins this house will be
shot down and torn to pieces by cannon."

"And my mill?" asked Mr. Byrnes, pointing to the
mill, which stood about three-quarters of a mile down
the road.

:That will probably go, too," said the officer.

Mrs. Byrnes had now come to the door and stood

106 How ONCE UPON A TIME

listening. "Well, I'd rather stay right here," she said.
"If there's a battle we'll take the children and get
under the big arch that is under the chimney in the
cellar ; there couldn't anything hurt us there, anyway."

Mr. Byrnes agreed with his wife that they had bet-
ter stay; and in spite of the warnings of the officers
they refused to move. Mr. Byrnes' brother, who lived
near the mill, also refused to leave his house. But the
other neighbors packed up their furniture and took
their families further up in the country, where they
might be safe from the cannon. As it happened, they
were no safer than the Byrnes after all, for on Sep-
tember the ninth, Washington found that the enemy
were circling around him toward the north in the direc-
tion of Philadelphia, and he decided to move on and
meet the British at Chadd's Ford, and force a battle
there.

Marching orders were given, and a few hours later
the entire American army was gone from Delaware.

So ended Washington's first stay in our state.

But there was another time when Washington was
in Delaware. This second time he was no longer com-
mander-in-chief of a struggling army, but the Presi-
dent of the United States.

The war was over. Liberty was won, and the Eng-
lish had left our shores.

It was December of 1783, and Washington was to
pass through Wilmington on his way from Philadel-
phia to Mount Vernon, where he was to eat his
Christmas dinner.

People lined the road watching for his coach, and

WASHINGTON CAME To DELAWARE

107

at the top of the hill children climbed into the trees
of the apple orchard so as to see the better.

At last, from far up the road, came a sound of
cheering; the coach was in sight. Nearer and nearer
it came.

In it sat President Washington with his calm, noble
face, and his powdered hair tied in a queue behind.
His hat was off, and he bowed this way and that as
the people waved and cheered him.

The Burgess and Council of Wilmington had pre-
pared an address which was read to him and which
he answered. It was only for a few hours that Wash-
ington was here this second time. A long ride was
still before him, and soon he was in his coach again
and rolling on his way.

For a while after the President's coach had started,
the little boys raced along beside him, then the horses
broke into a trot that left the boys behind. The turn
of the road was reached, the coach swung around it,
and Washington's last visit to Delaware was over.

io8 NOTES

NOTES

1. Mr. Lea and Mr. Joseph Tatnall were among the mill owners
of this time.

Miss Montgomery, in her "Reminiscences of Wilmington,"
writes, "Mr. Tatnall was a true patriot. He alone dared to grind
flour for the famishing army of the Revolution at the risk of the
destruction of his mill. His house was the home of General
Lafayette during his sojourn here. . . . General Washington and
other officers received his hospitality during their residence
here."

2. Account written by Daniel Byrnes, a son of Caleb Byrnes,
in 1842.

How Once Upon A Time

Mary Vining Ruled

All Hearts.

HIEF JUSTICE VINING'S
house faced "the Green" at
Dover.

The Green is a long, open square
with grass and trees. On either side of
it are handsome houses and pleasant shady gardens
with box trees and tall, old-fashioned flowers.

It was on the Green, and in these gardens, that the
little Vinings and Rodneys and Ridgelys and other
little Dover children of long ago played.

On this Green in 1776, the citizens and Revolu-
tionary soldiers gathered to build a great bonfire, and
burn the portrait of George the Third, no longer their
King.

Along the King's Road, which runs through it,
Caesar Rodney galloped, on his long ride to Philadel-
phia, and the brave regiments of Delaware militia
marched away to war.

"3

ii4 How ONCE UPON A TIME

Among the boys and girls who played on the Green
in those days were the children of the Chief Justice,
John and Mary Vining. They were beautiful children,
with curly brown hair, rosy cheeks, and large clear
grey eyes. Their mother had died while they were very
young, but their aunt, Mrs. Ridgely, loved them dearly,
and her house was as much home to them as their
own. The year that Mary was fourteen, Chief Justice
Vining also died, and left a large fortune to be divided
between his two children.

Mr. Ridgely had charge of this fortune, and such
good care did he take of it that when John and Mary
grew up they were among the richest people in Dela-
ware. But they were not only rich ; — they were hand-
some and witty as well. John was such a favorite with
everyone, that he was called "The Pet of Delaware,"
and his sister was the belle of the whole colony. Louis
Philippe, Due d'Orleans, visited her when he was in
America, and Lafayette admired her greatly. The fame
of her beauty was even carried to foreign countries,
so that when Jefferson visited the French queen, Marie
Antoinette, one of the first questions she asked him
was whether Miss Vining of Delaware was really as
lovely as she was said to be.

Mary Vining spent as much of her time in Phila-
delphia as at Dover. In the winter of 1777, Lord
Howe and his English troops were quartered there,
and many of the British officers lost their hearts to the
Delaware belle.

One day, one of her young cousins was studying his
Latin in the drawing room when the door opened and

MARY VINING RULED ALL HEARTS 115

Mary Vining swept in. She went over to the mirror
and stood for some time looking at herself with admi-
ration. She was in full dress, and her beautiful arms
and neck were bare. After a while she turned from
the mirror, and then she saw her young cousin sitting
there and watching her. She smiled and held out her
hand to him, "Come here, you little rogue," she said
"and you may kiss my hand."

The little boy shook his head shyly and drew back.

Miss Vining laughed. "You might well be glad to,"
she said. " 'Princes have lipped it/

Afterward, when the little boy had grown to be a
man he often told this story, and always added, "All
the while I thought her the most beautiful creature I'd

ever seen/

Some of Mary's friends wondered that she did not
marry. "To tell the truth," she answered them frankly,
"I have grown so used to the admiration of many men
that I do not think I could be content with that of

one/

Indeed, she had become rather spoiled by so much
admiration. She loved her own way and was deter-
mined to have it. She felt she was so beautiful and
rich that she could do whatever she chose. It was one
of her fancies never to walk in the street; she always
rode in her coach or went on horseback, however short
the distance, and she always covered her face with a
veil so that people could not stare at her.

At one time General Washington was quartered in
Wilmington, and while he was there many of his
officers found time to ride down to Dover to see Miss

n6 How ONCE UPON A TIME

^Vining. There was one of Washington's officers whom
she had never met, but she had heard a great deal
about him; — that was General Anthony Wayne. He
was at this time a married man, though his wife died
before the close of the war. He seemed to Miss Vining
to be the most brilliant officer in the whole army, and
she was never tired of hearing of his wild exploits,
"Mad Anthony Wayne," they called him. His fellow
officers said he was vain2 and a boaster; but he was
so brave, and so ready to carry out his boasts that no
one dared to laugh at him.

General Washington trusted him so much that he
asked his opinion about almost every important move
in the war, and he was the one whom Washington
chose to lead the attack on Stony Point. The storming
of Stony Point was the most daring act of the whole
twar.

Stony Point is a steep bluff on the Hudson. On
'three sides of it are water and on the fourth a deep
swamp. The English held it with a garrison of over
'five hundred soldiers, and their cannon was set so as
to guard every road to it.

It was the night of July the fifteenth, at half past
eleven that Wayne and his brave company of soldiers
set out. They moved in silence, with not a word spoken,
except now and then a whispered command. Orders
had been given that if any soldier left the ranks, no
matter for what reason, he should be instantly killed.3
This was in order that no deserter might have a chance
to carry news of the surprise to the British.

To reach the rise of Stony Point, Wayne and his

MARY VINING RULED ALL HEARTS 117

company were obliged to wade through water two feet
deep. Then came the climb up the hill, over rocks and
sharp stones. At last they were near enough to the
fort to hear the call of the sentries. When the signal
was given, the Americans attacked the fort from all
sides at once.

The garrison was taken by surprise, and fired
wildly ; they had no time to aim their cannon. A mus-
ket ball struck General Wayne, and made a long wound
in his scalp. He was stunned and fell to the ground,
but a moment later he rose on one knee and waved
his sword, "Forward, my brave fellows! Forward"
he shouted.

His wound was not serious, but his soldiers, when
they saw him fall, were filled with fury. They charged
into the fort with their bayonets, climbing over walls
and killing those who tried to stop them. Not a shot
was fired by the Americans except at the very first,
and then only to draw the attention of the British in
the wrong direction.

This capture of Stony Point made General Wayne
famous. He was said to be the most brilliant officer
in the army. Praises were showered on him,4 and later
on he was made General-in-Chief of the army.

Years slipped by and the war came to an end. The
American colonies were free, and the English left our
shores and sailed back to their own country.

General Wayne was by this time a widower, and
Mary Vining was no longer young. But though she
was not young she was as beautiful and witty and
charming as ever.

n8 How ONCE UPON A TIME

She was almost forty when news came to her cou-
sins in Dover that she was engaged to be married to
General Wayne. At first they could not believe it.
General Wayne was a brave soldier, he was handsome,
generous and honest, but he had been brought up on
a farm, and he had none of the elegance of the foreign
officers, who had been her friends.

But Mary Vining loved him, and was determined
to marry him. The time for the wedding was set. It was
to be in January, and Miss Vining began to make
ready for it. Her house was already handsome, but
she refurnished it, from top to bottom. General Wayne
gave her a set of India china, and she bought a new
service of silver.

In December, Wayne was sent west by the govern-
ment, to make a treaty with the Maumee Indians. He
had fought with them and defeated them the year
before, and they would be more ready to treat with
him than with any one else. He was to return to Dela-
ware by the first of January.

But the brave soldier never returned. At the first
of the year, on New Year's Day, word was brought
to Miss Vining that he had died at Presque Isle, on
Lake Erie.

Miss Vining immediately put on mourning for
General Wayne, and this mourning she never laid aside
again as long as she lived.

Soon after Wayne's death, her brother, "The Pet
of Delaware," died too. It was found that he had
spent, not only all his own fortune, but his sister's as
well. She was now a poor woman. Nothing was left

MARY VINING RULED ALL HEARTS

119

her but a little house in Wilmington called "The Wil-
lows," which stood where the du Pont building now
stands, and which had once belonged to her mother,
She was obliged to sell her coach and horses, and she
sent away her servants.

Her brother had left four children, and she made
these her care for the rest of her life. She brought
them up and educated them.

The china that had been General Wayne's last gift
to her, was never used, but was kept by her as her
most precious treasure.

She saw almost no one at "The Willows," but the
few who were allowed to visit her, found her always
in black, and with her beautiful hair hidden under a
widow's cap. But she was still, even in old age, as
gracious, as witty and charming as when she had been
the wealthy and courted Belle of Delaware.5

120 NOTES

NOTES

1. Quoted from Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra."

2. It seemed strange that the hero of Stony Point should hare
been a vain man; but he was said to be vain both for himself
and his regiment. At the beginning of the war he told his regi-
ment that there would be a barber in each company to shave the
soldiers and dress their hair (their hair was to be plaited and
powdered) ; and that any man who came on parade with a long
beard, carelessly dressed, or dirty, was to be punished. He told
General Washington he would rather lead his men into action
well dressed and with only one round of cartridges, than with
all the ammunition that they needed and yet ragged and dirty.

3. This was no vain threat. During the attack one unfortu-
nate soldier stepped out of the ranks to load his musket, and the
officer in charge immediately ran him through with his bayonet.

4. One of Wayne's friends wrote that the only drawback to
the attack was that the General would probably lose his hearing;
— he would be deafened by his own praises.

5. The grave of Mary Vining is in the Old Swedes' Church
yard in Wilmington.

How Once Upon A Time

MacDonough Sailed

The Sea.

OMMODORE Thomas MacDon-
ough was sometimes called "the
Boy Commodore/' for he was
the youngest Commodore in the American navy.

He was born December thirty-first, 1783, on a
farm in New Castle county where his father and
grandfather had lived before him.

When he was seventeen he joined the navy as a
Midshipman, and made his first cruise on the ship
"Ganges."

He was a tall, thin, shy youth. He was never strong,
but he was so brave that he was ready for any dangers
or hardships. Cooper called him "the modest but lion-
hearted MacDonough."

At the time MacDonough joined the navy, the
United States was at war with France, and his first
cruise was against the French in the West Indies. The
"Ganges" captured three of the enemy's vessels, and
sent them home as prizes. Then the yellow fever broke
out on board the Ganges. MacDonough was one of

125

126 How ONCE UPON A TIME

the men who had it. He and the other sick men were
carried on shore to a miserable dirty Spanish hospital
at Havana. Here, for many weeks, he lay ill.

When he was able to get up and go about again he
found that the "Ganges" had sailed away, and that
he was left, poor, alone, and almost without clothing,
in a strange land. All the Americans who had been
brought to the hospital had died except himself and
two others. These two were in as much distress as
himself. The American agent at Havana gave them
some shirts and other pieces of clothing, and they got
back to the United States on a sailing vessel.

MacDonough landed at Norfolk, Virginia, and
worked his way back to Delaware. He had been away
from home a year, and his family had never expected
to see him again : they had been told he had the yellow
fever at Havana, and was either dying or already
dead. They could hardly believe it was he when he
walked in among them, thin, pale and weak-looking,
but still alive. The whole house was filled with rejoic-
ings. He was still dressed as he had been when he
left Havana, in worn out clothes, a straw hat and
canvas shoes.

As soon as he was able, he went back to the
"Ganges," and was with her until he was ordered to
the Mediterranean on the frigate "Philadelphia."

We were then at war with Tripoli. Soon after the
"Philadelphia" reached the Mediterranean, they cap-
tured a Moorish vessel, and MacDonough was sent on
board of her to take her to Gibraltar.

MAcDoNoucH SAILED THE SEA 127

It was a very lucky thing for MacDonough that he
was ordered on to this other vessel, for very soon
after he left the "Philadelphia" she ran aground, and
was captured by the enemy. All the men and officers
on board of her were taken prisoner.

After the "Philadelphia" was taken by the enemy,
the Americans were very anxious to destroy it, for
now the enemy had the ship and might use it as a war
vessel. But it seemed as though it would be almost
impossible to destroy the "Philadelphia." It lay in the
harbor of Tripoli, close under the fortress, and above
it were the black mouths of the cannon. If the Tripoli
gunners had seen any American ship come into the
harbor, they would have blown it to pieces rather than
let it come near their prize.

The only way to get to the vessel would be by using
some trick.

Stephen Decatur, then a young commander, was
very anxious to try it. It would mean the risk of his
life, and of the lives of all who went with him; but
every sailor on his vessel was as eager to try as he
himself. From among them all he chose sixty- two to
go with him, and MacDonough was one of those
chosen.

They set sail for the bay of Tripoli, in a ketch (a
sort of small merchant vessel) which they named
"Intrepid." Almost all the Americans hid down in the
lower part of the ketch. Only a few stayed on deck.
Those on deck darkened their faces, and dressed them-
selves as Maltese sailors, with red fezzes and round

128 How ONCE UPON A TIME

jackets. The inside of the ketch was filled with powder
and everything else necessary for blowing up the
"Philadelphia," if they could only get to her.

Boldly the little ketch with these brave men on
board sailed into the enemy's harbor.

The Tripolitans, looking from their forts, saw noth-
ing but what seemed to be a Maltese merchant ship,
sailing into the harbor to shelter there for the night,
— for the daylight was already fading from the sky
and the moon was rising.

The "Intrepid" sailed slowly across the harbor to
where the "Philadelphia" lay under the fortress.
Aboard of her were the Tripoli officers on the watch.

When the ketch was near enough to the "Philadel-
phia," an American officer hailed her, speaking in the
Maltese language. He said they had lost their anchors
at sea, and asked whether they might fasten their boat
to the "Philadelphia" for the night.

The Tripoli officer hesitated a moment. "That is a
very unusual thing to ask," he said. However, he
agreed that they might, and a hawser rope was flung
over to the ketch for them to fasten by.

Just then the "Intrepid" swung out from under the
shadow of the "Philadelphia," and the moon shone
down on her deck. There on her deck, in the full light,
lay the anchors that the officer said had been lost at
sea.

Immediately the Tripoli men knew that a trick had
been played upon them. "Americanos! Americanos!"
they shouted. But they had found it out too late. The
ketch was already fastened to the side of the larger

MAcDoNoucH SAILED THE SEA 129

vessel. The Americans swarmed over the sides of the
"Philadelphia," and the Tripolitans found themselves
fighting for their lives. MacDonough was the third
man to spring aboard of the ship. In a short time all
the Tripolitans were killed or driven overboard, the
powder was hastily carried from the ketch to the
"Philadelphia," and she was set on fire. Then the
Americans returned to their own boat. They cut loose
and rowed at full speed away from the "Philadelphia"
and across the harbor.

The men in the fortress near by had seen that
strange things were happening on board the "Phila-
delphia," but in the uncertain moonlight they could
not tell just what the matter was. It was not until
they saw the ketch well across the harbor, and flames
and smoke pouring from the "Philadelphia" that they
realized what had happened. Then their cannon roared,
but the balls fell short. The men on the "Intrepid"
rose to their feet, waved their caps, and in the red
light of the burning ship, gave three rousing American
cheers. Then they again fell to their oars, and rowed
out of the harbor to where the "Siren," an American
war vessel, was waiting for them outside.

This burning of the "Philadelphia" was said, by
Admiral Nelson, to be "the most bold and daring act
of the age."

MacDonough had shown such bravery in this action
that he was made a lieutenant.

It was while MacDonough was still on this Medit-
erranean cruise that he had an adventure with three
cut-throats.

130 How ONCE UPON A TIME

The commander had given him leave to go on shore
one day, and toward evening, as he was corning back
to his boat, three cut-throats set upon him in a lonely
place. Instead of trying to escape, MacDonough turned
upon them and fought so fiercely that he soon wounded
two of them, and the third took to his heels and ran.
MacDonough ran after him. He chased the man for
some distance, and then they came to a low building;
into this building the man dashed, and up the stairs,
with MacDonough still after him. When he reached
the roof he looked behind him. There still was the
terrible Americano. Then the man ran to the edge of
the roof and jumped off, for he felt he would rather
run the risk of breaking his neck than fight with
MacDonough.

When MacDonough came down stairs again, he
looked all around for the man, but he could not see
him, so he quietly returned to his boat and rowed back
to the ship.

In 1806, MacDonough was first lieutenant on the
''Siren," with Captain Smith in command.

They were lying just off Gibraltar at one time, and
at some distance from them were anchored two other
vessels. One was an American merchant ship, and the
other a British frigate.

One day Captain Smith had gone on shore and
MacDonough was in charge of the "Siren." In the
afternoon he saw a boat put off from the frigate and
row over to the merchant ship. It lay there for a while,
and then when it started to return to the frigate he
saw that there was one more man in her than there
had been before.

MAcDoNoucH SAILED THE SEA 131

MacDonough knew that the captains of English
warships sometimes kidnapped American sailors, and
made them serve on board the British vessels, and he
suspected that this extra man was an American who
was being stolen from the crew of the merchant ship.

He immediately sent over to the ship to ask whether
this were so.

The captain told him "Yes" ; — that the British had
come on board, and taken one of his sailors. The
captain had been afraid to resist them, for the frigate
had guns and he had none.

As soon as MacDonough heard this, he had a cutter
lowered, and set out in chase of the British boat. The
Englishmen were rowing in a very leisurely manner,
for they never dreamed that any one would dare to
interfere with their prize.

MacDonough caught up to them just as they reached
the frigate. The prisoner was sitting in the stern of
the boat. MacDonough's men drove the cutter so close
that the two boats grated together. One of the Eng-
lishmen shouted to them to keep off, but instead
MacDonough reached over, and catching hold of the
prisoner dragged him, bodily, into his own boat. Then
his rowers gave way, and before the Englishmen could
recover from their surprise, he was on his way back
to the "Siren/' the rescued man with him.

The British captain had seen the whole affair from
the deck of the frigate, and he was in a fury. He got
into a boat and had himself rowed over to the "Siren."
When he came on board, he saw MacDonough walk-
ing quietly up and down the deck, with his hands
clasped behind him.

132 How ONCE UPON A TIME

The captain marched up to him insolently. "Where
is that man you took? I must have him back/' he
cried.

"I will not give him up," answered MacDonough
quietly.

"You dare to tell me that? Why you are not even
the captain of this vessel, and you dare to say you
will not let me have the man?"

"I will answer for it to my captain/' said MacDon-
ough, "and I will not give him up/'

The captain raged and threatened to turn the frig-
ate's guns against the "Siren" and blow it out of the
water.

"You can do it, no doubt, if you choose/' answered
MacDonough, "but as long as this boat is afloat I will
never give that man up/'

The captain finding he could gain nothing, got into
his boat again and had himself rowed over toward the
merchant vessel.

MacDonough feared he might try to kidnap another
man, so he entered the cutter and followed close after
the British boat. The Englishmen rowed about for
some time and then finding they could not shake him
off they returned to the frigate. Then, and not till
then, MacDonough went back to the "Siren."

The English officers one and all admired MacDon-
ough's conduct in this affair, and always afterward
spoke of him with great admiration.

But it was in the battle of Lake Champlain that
MacDonough won his greatest fame.

Our troubles with England had finally ended in a

MAcDoNOUGH SAILED THE SEA 133

war with her. MacDonough was put in command of
the naval forces on Lake Champlain. He was then a
little over thirty years old.

The battle was fought on a clear, bright September
morning, in 1814.

Before the battle began the Commodore (as Mac-
Donough was then called) knelt on the deck of the
"Saratoga," and with his officers and crew about him,
he prayed for success in the conflict.

When a little later they were clearing the decks of
the "Saratoga" for action, they let out some chickens
that were in coops, and threw the coops overboard.
One of the cocks flew up on the rigging and flapped
his wings and crowed loud and long. It was as if he
recognized in the Commodore one of the "Blue Hen's
Chickens," and was greeting him.

The sailors took his crowing as a sign of victory,
and cheered in answer to him.

The American ships were scarcely set in battle order,
before the British squadron came sailing proudly
around a wooded point of land. The red flags at their
mast-heads fluttered gaily in the sunlight.

MacDonough himself fired the first shot from the
"Saratoga." The gun was aimed at the British flag-
ship "Confidence," and the shot killed and wounded
several of her men, and carried away her wheel. Again
and again, through the battle, MacDonough, with his
own hands, helped to work the guns. Three times he
was struck by splinters and thrown across the decks.
Once a heavy spar fell over him and knocked him
senseless. Once a shot blew off the head of a gunner,

134 How ONCE UPON A TIME

and threw it against him with such force that he was
again knocked across the deck and into the scuppers,
But he was not seriously hurt, though every other
officer on the "Saratoga" was either killed or wounded.

By midday the battle was over and the Americans
had won. So fierce had been the broadsides that not a
single mast was left standing on the vessel of either
of the opposing squadrons.

After the battle was ended the American officers all
gathered on the deck of the "Saratoga" and the British
officers came to give up their swords to MacDonough.

Instead of taking them, however, MacDonough said,
"Gentlemen, your gallant conduct makes you the more
worthy to wear your swords" ; and he bade them put
them back in their scabbards and keep them.

Every care was now given to the wounded on both
sides, and MacDonough himself visited every ship in
his squadron, and thanked the officers and men for
their bravery.

News of the American victory was received with
joy all over the country. Congress offered a vote of
thanks to MacDonough, and many states and towns
gave him presents. But through it all he was still the
modest MacDonough. Often tears came into his eyes
when he was speaking of all the country had done for
him.

This was almost his last battle. Soon after it, peace
was declared, and he left Lake Champlain and went
back to the ocean.

In 1825 he was Commander of the "Constitution,"
in the Mediterranean. But his health failed and he

MACDONOUGH SAILED THE SEA 135

determined to go home. He never reached his country,
however. On November tenth, he died, leaving behind
him an undying name — a brave officer, a great seaman,
and a Christian gentleman. In memory of MacDon-
ough, the place near which he was born has been
named after him, and in the great warship "Dela-
ware," one of the largest in the American navy, his
portrait (presented by the Colonial Dames of the
State) is hung with those of Admiral Jones and
Admiral du Pont, to commemorate the naval heroes
of Delaware.

How Once Upon A Time

Delaware Welcomed

Lafayette.

'HEN Lafayette was in America, helping us
fight for liberty, he made many friends
among the Delaware people. Caesar Rodney
was then President of Delaware, and Lafayette was
often entertained at his house. It was there that he
met the beautiful Miss Vining. He and she became
great friends, and for a great many years they used
to write to each other.

When Washington had his headquarters in Wil-
mington, Lafayette came with him. He stayed at the
house of a Quaker, Mr. Joseph Tatnall, in Brandy-
wine Village, just across the stream from Wilmington.
General Wayne and others of Washington's officers,
were stationed at Mr. Tatnall's house, too.

Brandywine Village was then a separate place, and
not a part of Wilmington as it is now. There was no
bridge across the Brandywine, and people who wished
to go from one place to the other, were ferried across
the stream.1 Lafayette often crossed the Brandywine
in this way, He would ride his horse on to the great

139

140 How ONCE UPON A TIME

clumsy boat and sit quietly while it was ferried over;
then he would ride clattering off on the Wilmington
side, and up the hilly streets to join Washington at
his headquarters.

Often General Washington himself would cross in
the ferry to Brandywine Village, and come to the
Tatnall house to discuss plans of battle with Lafayette
and the other officers. These meetings were held in
the back parlor; there was a large round table in the
middle of the room, and on this they spread out their
maps and plans. Washington kept other important
papers at the Tatnall house, too. It was a safer place
than his headquarters in Wilmington.

Lafayette was at this time a very gay and dashing
young officer, and the Tatnall children, who were shy
little Quakers, were rather afraid of him. After he
had been out riding he used to come marching into the
house, snapping his riding whip, and glancing about
him with keen, bright eyes, his spurs jingling as he
walked. The children generally ran and hid when they
heard him coming, — that is all but the youngest, a
pretty little girl of two or three. She never felt the
least fear of the Frenchman. She would run to meet
him, holding up her little bare dimpled arms for him
to take her. Then Lafayette would swing her up on
his shoulder, and march with her through the house.
He called her "his little sweetheart."

But one morning Lafayette and the other officers
said good-bye, and went down to the ferry for the
last time. His "little sweetheart" never saw him again.
He had gone with Washington and his army to meet

DELAWARE WELCOMED LAFAYETTE 141

the British further north, and to fight in the battle of
Brandywine.

After the Revolution was over, and the colonies
were free, Lafayette went back to France, and it was
almost forty years before he visited America again.
In that time, there were many changes. Washington
died and was buried at his beloved home, Mount
Vernon. Lafayette himself had changed from a gay,
dashing officer to a stately, grey-haired man of sixty-
seven.

He landed at New York on August sixteenth, 1824,
and was welcomed with great honor as "the nation's
guest." Flowers were strewn before him. In many
places the horses were taken from his carriage, and
it was drawn through the streets by the people them-
selves.

There were at that time, twenty-four states in the
Union, and Lafayette wished to visit each one of them.
He planned to come to Wilmington on October sixth,
so as to attend the wedding of Mr. Charles I. du Pont
and Miss Van Dyke, the daughter of U. S. Senator.
Nicholas Van Dyke, at New Castle in the evening of
that day. Lafayette had known Mr. du Font's father
in France, for they were of a French family.

Great preparations were made by all the people of
Wilmington and its vicinity (indeed from all parts of
the State) to welcome Lafayette.

The day of his arrival dawned clear and bright.
As early as seven o'clock in the morning all the town
was astir. Fifes wrere sounded, drums were beaten.
The Wilmington City Troop was to march up the

142 How ONCE UPON A TIME

Philadelphia pike and meet the General at the state
line, between Pennsylvania and Delaware. This City
Troop had been named the "Lafayette Guard," in
honor of their visitor. With the troop were to ride
about two hundred of the young men of Wilmington.
These young men were all dressed alike, in white
trousers, blue or black coats, and high black stocks.
They all wore Revolutionary cockades, and Lafayette
badges. A number of the older men of Wilmington
rode out with them, too, in carriages.

At the boundary line in Brandywine Hundred, near
the Practical Farmer, a magnificent floral arch had
been erected with the American eagle suspended in
the centre, a United States flag, with a portrait of
Washington underneath it and the words: —

"DELAWARE WELCOMES LAFAYETTE."

Advancing into the city of Wilmington, his recep-
tion was overwhelming. Flowers were strewn in his
pathway; arches of evergreens, decorated with flags,
had been built across Market Street at different points.
From one of the arches hung a model of the ship
"Brandywine," and above it were the words, "In honor
of Lafayette, the friend of Civil Liberty."

The ladies of the town had decorated Brandywine
bridge so that it was almost hidden by wreaths and
flowers. It was over this bridge that Lafayette would
enter the town.

It was eight o'clock when the procession set out
from Wilmington and marched up the Philadelphia
pike to meet the distinguished guest.

DELAWARE WELCOMED LAFAYETTE 143

At about ten o'clock word was brought that General
Lafayette was then in sight. The procession drew up
in order, and as soon as Lafayette appeared the men
burst into a loud shout of "Long live Lafayette!"

Lafayette rose and bowed in answer. He was riding
in a barouche, and with him was his son, George
Washington Lafayette. He was escorted by the First
City Troop of Philadelphia, and a number of well
known men.

As soon as Lafayette reached the State line where
the Wilmington procession was waiting, he stepped
from the barouche down into the road.

The Honorable Louis McLane came forward to
meet him, and made a speech of welcome. Lafayette
answered him, and in his answer he spoke of the war
for liberty, in which he had fought, and of the great
bravery of the Delaware regiment in that war.

Mr. McLane then asked to introduce to the General,
three men who had fought in the Delaware regiment,
— three of the Blue Hen's Chickens. They were Major
Peter Jaquet, Captain Caleb P. Bennett and Colonel
Allen McLane. Colonel McLane, an old man of eighty-
three years, was dressed in the Colonial uniform he
had worn in the war.

Other prominent citizens of Delaware were intro-
duced, and then Lafayette stepped into the carriage
that had been brought for him, and to the music of
the band, the procession moved on toward Wilmington.

As they reached the top of Shellpot hill, just outside
of the city, the dull boom of a cannon sounded across
the sunny fields. Again it boomed, and still again, till
thirteen shots had been fired, one shot for each of the

144 How ONCE UPON A TIME

thirteen original colonies. It was a salute to Lafayette.

The General was very anxious to stop in Brandy-
wine Village, at the Tatnall house. His old friend,
Joseph Tatnall, had died many years before, but his
son was still living in a stone house close by.

He was standing in the doorway when Lafayette's
carriage stopped before the house. He hurried down
to the street to welcome the General. He had his little
son in his arms, and at a whispered word from his
father, the little fellow held out a beautiful basket of
Washington pears.

Lafayette took it with a smile, and thanked the
child. 'You were not so many years older than this
little fellow, when I was here before/* said the Gen-
eral to the father.

"And my little sweetheart?" added the General.
"What has become of her? Shall I see her?'5

But the little sweetheart was dead. Years before,
she had grown up and married, and then had died,
leaving a daughter. Lafayette wished to see this
daughter, but she was away at boarding school. Mr.
Tatnall had asked the mistress of the school to allow
his niece to come to him for that day, but the mistress
had refused ; she was so strict that she would not allow
the young girl to be absent for a day, even to meet
General Lafayette.

Just beyond the bridge, a great crowd of people had
gathered. They cheered wildly as Lafayette's carriage
rolled across the bridge. At the same time, all the
bells in the city began to ring, and so with shouts and
music, and the pealing of bells, General Lafayette was
welcomed back to Delaware.

DELAWARE WELCOMED LAFAYETTE 145

The procession paraded through the streets and
under the arches, and at last drew up before the City
Hall, where a great feast had been made ready. About
two hundred people were at the banquet.

Just as the feast was ended, an old woman pushed
her way into the hall, and came to where Mr. McLane
was standing. Mr. McLane knew who she was very
well. Her name was Belle McClosky, and she earned
her living by selling cakes and pies about the town.
Wherever she went, she always carried an old musket
ball in her pocket. Often she took out this ball and
showed it to her customers, and boasted that she had
taken it out of General Lafayette's wound with a pair
of scissors when he was wounded at the Battle of
Brandywine.

Now, as soon as she reached Mr. McLane's side,
she said, "Mr. McLane, I want you to introduce me
to General Lafayette."

Mr. McLane hesitated a moment; then he said
"Very well, Belle, I will do it. I know you are a true
patriot, and I believe you saved many a poor soldier's
life at the time of the war."

He then led Belle over to General Lafayette. The
General spoke to her pleasantly, but he had not the
least idea who she was.

"General/' said Belle, "do you remember being
wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, and the young
woman who took out the ball with a pair of scissors?"

"I remember very well," answered Lafayette. "She
saved me several hours of suffering. I would like to
see her again, that I might thank her."

Belle took the ball from her pocket, and held it out

146 How ONCE UPON A TIME

to him in her hand. "This is the ball," said she, "and
I am the woman who took it out, though I am so old
now it is no wonder that you do not know me."

Lafayette was amazed. He thanked her warmly, and
then took the ball and looked at it. "So you have kept
it all these years," he said. "That is very curious."

Then he gave the ball back to her, and Belle went
out from the hall that day a very proud and happy
woman.

Lafayette paid only one visit in Wilmington, and
that was to Mrs. Connel. She was the wife of Mr.
John Connel who had been very kind to some French
soldiers at the time of the war between France and
Russia.2

Later in the afternoon, the General set out for New
Castle, to attend the wedding there.

New Castle had prepared to welcome him with a
military salute. There were two six pound cannons in
the old arsenal at New Castle, that were named the
"Wasp" and the "Hornet."

They had been moved to the northeast end of the
town, near the site of old Fort Casimir, ready for
use. As the procession passed Rogers' Woods, and
came in sight of New Castle, the gunners began. The
cannons boomed and boomed incessantly until Lafay-
ette had entered the house of George Read, 2nd, on
Water St., where he was received, and where guards
were placed at the front door to keep back the crowd.

In the evening Lafayette attended the wedding. At
this wedding, he was, of course, the guest of honor.
The chair where he was to sit was raised so as to be

DELAWARE WELCOMED LAFAYETTE

147

higher than any others in the room and was wreathed
about with flowers.

A great crowd gathered before the house to see
General Lafayette.

Senator Van Dyke, the father of the bride, gave
orders that the door and windows should be left open,
so that the people outside could see the General and
also the wedding party.

Afterward, he went to take supper with George
Read, 2nd, the son of the signer of the Declaration
of Independence. Then he was driven over to French-
town, Maryland, on the Elk river, where he was met
and welcomed by the Marylanders.

So Lafayette passed through Delaware, on his tour
through the States, and so the Delaware people wel-
comed him. It was a beautiful greeting, and Delaware
may well be proud of the day when Lafayette was here.

1 1 ffTm •""y"-r--'-- — •""-

Old TaJbtiaLl. Qiotcse, '

148 NOTES

NOTES

1. The ferry landings were near the Brandywine Flour Mills
on one side, and at the foot of King Street on the other.

2. Mrs. John Connel afterward went to France, and was the
guest of the Lafayette family for six months. She was presented
at the Court of Louis Philippe, and the King gave her a hand-
some lace fan, which is still preserved in the family.

How Once Upon A Time

Mason And Dixon

Ran A Boundary.

F all the States belonging to the United
States of America, there are no two that are
of the same size or shape. Some are big and
some are little. One is almost square. One is shaped
like a boot.

Delaware has two boundaries, one on the west and
one on the south, that are perfectly straight. On the
east the boundary follows the line of the Delaware
River and bay. The northern line of the State is an
arc, or part of a circle. If you put a pin through the
little dot on the map that is marked "New Castle,"
and tie a thread to it and measure, you will find how
perfect this arc of the circle is, and you will also find
that New Castle is the centre of the circle.

Why should Delaware have this queer curved
northern boundary? Is it because, many years ago, as
this book has told once before, in 1681, King Charles
the Second of England gave what is now Pennsylvania
to William Penn. In that grant, Penn was given "that

154 How ONCE UPON A TIME

extensive forest lying twelve miles northward of New
Castle, on the northern side of the Delaware," the
southern boundary of which was a circle drawn twelve
miles distant from New Castle northward and west-
ward.

Penn, at first, was contented with this grant from
King Charles. But when he looked over his land grant
carefully, he saw that it would be much better for
Pennsylvania to have at least a strip of land that would
run along one side of the Delaware River and down
to the Delaware Bay. This land had been already given
by the King, to his brother, the Duke of York.

If Penn only had that strip of land, his ships could
sail up the river more safely. He could also carry on
a better trade with the Indians along its banks. So he
asked the Duke of York to let him have this river
land. We have already read how the Duke of York
answered him, — how the Provinces on the Delaware
were given to Penn on lease, for a certain share of
rents and profits, and a rose to be presented to the
Duke every Michaelmas, on demand. This lease was
to run ten thousand years, which was the same as if
it were a gift out and out.

So what is now our State of Delaware came into
the possession of William Penn, and in the deeds its
boundaries were laid out; the northern one was still
to be the arc of the circle drawn around New Castle.
Its western boundary was to be a straight line drawn
on down from the rim of this "twelve mile circle,"
till it should meet another line, a straight one, which
was to be drawn from Cape Henlopen across to the

MASON AND DIXON RAN A BOUNDARY 155

Chesapeake, and was to be the southern boundary of
the State. If you will look at the map in the front of
the book, you can see how the arc of the twelve mile
circle and the two straight lines to the south and east
give Delaware its present shape. The eastern part of
the land within the twelve mile circle extended all the
way to low water mark on the New Jersey shore, and
also to the center of the bay south of the circle. The
grant gave Penn the Pea-Patch Island too, where Fort
Delaware was afterward built.

The Duke of York gave the land to William Penn.
But years and years before that, long before the Duke
of York himself owned the Provinces on the Dela-
ware, there was another Englishman who claimed them
as his own.

This was Lord Baltimore. In 1632, the King had
given him a grant not only of Maryland, but of what
is now Delaware, as well. The grant was given on the
word of Lord Baltimore, that no Christian people had
ever settled on the peninsula. But, as we know, about
one year before that DeVries had landed at Zwannen-
dael, had bought the land there and had started his
little settlement. Probably Lord Baltimore knew noth-
ing of this. Whether he knew or not, the King was
very angry when he found what a mistake had been
made, and that the Dutch had made a settlement in
Delaware years before. There was even a great deal
of doubt as to whether Lord Baltimore's grant would
hold good.

Perhaps it was because of this doubt that Lord
Baltimore did not make any claim to these Delaware

How ONCE UPON A TIME

lands until 1659. At that time, his brother, Lord
Calvert, was the Governor of Maryland. The Dutch
were living along the Delaware, and had built forts
there.

In that year (1659) five or six Dutch soldiers de-
serted from the Dutch fort at New Amstel 1 and fled
down into Maryland.

The Dutch Director-General sent a message to Lord
Calvert, asking him to send the deserters back to him.

Lord Calvert answered the Dutchman very politely.
He was very willing to send the soldiers back, he said,
but at the same time he wished to warn the Director
that New Amstel and Altona,2 and all the land along
the Delaware up to the fortieth degree, belonged to
Lord Baltimore.

When this message was brought to the Dutch Di-
rector and his council, they were surprised indeed.
This was the first they had heard of the English hav-
ing any claim to the land at all. They could hardly
believe it, and yet they were so afraid of getting into
trouble with the English that some of the councillors
wanted to leave New Amstel at once, and move up to
the Hudson, where they would be safe.

It was not long before they heard again from Mary-
land. In August, Colonel Utie came over from St.
Mary's,3 bringing letters and messages from Lord
Calvert. The message that he brought was that the
Dutch must move away at once. They must give over
all the land to the English. However, they might stay
on one condition. That was that they would obey Eng-
lish rules, and would agree that Lord Baltimore was
the owner of the land and their ruler.

MASON AND DIXON RAN A BOUNDARY 157

Before the Director and his council could agree to
this condition, they said they would have to consult
with Governor Stuyvesant.

Colonel Utie was quite willing for them to consult
their governor, and he gave them three weeks to send
their messengers to New Amsterdam and learn from
Governor Stuyvesant what they were to do.

Three weeks later, to a day, the Director and his
council met together, and three weeks later, to a day,
Colonel Utie came to their meeting to hear what they
had to say. They had heard from Governor Stuyvesant,
and his messages were very decided. The Dutch were
not to give up the land, and they were not to own
Lord Baltimore as their ruler. The land belonged to
the Dutch. They had bought it from the Indians ; they
had been its first settlers and they had "sealed it with
their blood" at Zwannendael.

But Stuyvesant did more than send this answer to
the English. He quietly sent messengers down along
the Delaware, and bought from the Indians all the
land that did not already belong to the Dutch, and he
built a fort at Hoornkill, and made ready to protect
his land.

Lord Calvert did not force him to fight for his
rights, however. The English governor seemed quite
as unwilling as the Dutch had been to carry the dis-
pute any further.

But the Dutch were not to keep the land very much
longer, in spite of the friendliness of Lord Calvert
It was soon to be taken from them, and by the English,
too, though not by Lord Baltimore.

In 1664, a fleet of vessels was sent over from Eng-

158 How ONCE UPON A TIME

land by the Duke of York, to take possession of the
land. It was his now; the King had given it to him,
in spite of the grant made to Lord Baltimore years
before.

The Duke of York was a very rich and powerful
nobleman. The Dutch did not dare to stand out against
him, no, not even the hot-headed Governor Stuyvesant
himself. Very quietly, they handed over all the land
to the English. Not a single shot was fired any place,
except at Fort New Amstel. There the Director-Gen-
eral made one effort to protect the Dutch rights. He
tried to hold the fort, but even the townspeople were
against him. He was soon forced to yield, and the
English soldiers marched in and took possession. Eng-
lish soldiers filled the fort; English farmers tilled the
ground; Englishmen made the laws and settled quar-
rels, and then, during the time when their government
was being established, the great tract of land north of
the Delaware Province was made over to William
Perm, and a little later the Provinces on the Delaware
were sold to him, too.

But now Lord Baltimore began again to push his
claims to the land. While the Dutch had it, he was
willing to let the matter rest. As long as the Duke of
York owned it, he had been afraid to dispute about
it ; but now it belonged to William Penn, and William
Penn was only a private gentleman.

At one time, Lord Baltimore sent Colonel George
Talbot over from Maryland with a band of soldiers.
They seized a farm near New Castle that belonged to
a Mr. Ogle. On the farm Colonel Talbot built a fort
with palisades, and he put a force of armed men in

MASON AND DIXON RAN A BOUNDARY 159

to defend it. He declared he was holding it for Lord
Baltimore.

Soon after this, Perm heard that Lord Baltimore
had sailed back to England, there to make claims on
the land before the King's Privy Council. Penn then
took ship and went back to England, too, to present
his side.

After the Privy Council had heard everything there
was to be said, and had read all the papers on the
question, they gave their decision. The decision was
that Lord Baltimore had no right to any of the three
Provinces on the Delaware. They were to belong to
William Penn. The boundaries were to be the lines
marked out by the Duke of York, — half the peninsula
down to Cape Henlopen, and a line to be drawn across
from Cape Henlopen to meet the Western boundary.

But somehow the quarrel did not end. Years passed
and Lord Baltimore died, and William Penn died, and
still the boundary dispute went on. Finally the same
old question was decided in exactly the same way by
the Lord Chancellor of England in 1750, in favor of
William Penn's children, and the thing was settled at
last. But it was not as easy to mark out the boundary
lines on real land as it is on a map. So because the
marking of them was very difficult, and because Penn's
heirs and Frederick, the new Lord Baltimore, wanted
the lines settled once for all, two very good surveyors
came over from England in 1763, to run the bound-
ary. The names of these two surveyors have been
famous ever since. They were Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon.

It was not an easy task that these two surveyors

160 How ONCE UPON A TIME

had undertaken to do. A great part of the land was
still wild and unbroken. Savages and wild beasts lurked
in the forests. At night, as they sat beside their camp
fires, they could hear the long cry of the catamounts
off in the wood. Often an Indian warrior would glide
out from the thickets, and stand watching their work,
and then glide away again, silent as a shadow. The
savages seemed friendly, and indeed some of them
went with the white men as guides, but there was no
knowing when they would turn against the white men.
At one time, word was brought to Mason and Dixon
that the Indians meant to attack their camp, and
twenty-six of their workmen left, and made their way
back to safety. All work stopped for a while. Then
fresh men came out to take their places, and the chop-
ping and surveying went on. Great trees were cut down
and rocks were rolled from their beds. A path eight
yards wide was made through the wilderness, and in
this "vistoe" as they called it, stones were set up to
mark the boundary line. Some of the stones had Penn's
coat-of-arms carved on them ; some were carved upon
one side with "P" for Pennsylvania, and on the other
with "M" for Maryland.

Months slipped by, years passed, and still the work
was not finished.

Then one day the surveyors came to a path through
the forest that crossed the "vistoe" they were marking
out. It was a path worn by the passing of many Indian
feet. Here the savages who were acting as their guides
stopped.

MASON AND DIXON RAN A BOUNDARY

161

"It is not the will of the Six Nations 4 that you
should go further," they said.

The white men were very anxious to finish the line.
They had been working on it for over four years, and
it needed thirty-six more miles to complete it, but the
Indians would guide them no further. "It is not the
will of the Six Nations," they repeated.

The white men were afraid to push on further with-
out permission. They were afraid they would be mas-
sacred, so they were obliged to turn back leaving the
line incompleted, and many, many years passed by
before that line was finally finished.

But Mason and Dixon's line 5 still marks the bound-
aries between the three States of Delaware, Mary-
land and Pennsylvania, and here and there a stone
still stands where they set it up in their "vistoe," more
than a hundred and fifty years ago. One stone is pre-
served in the rooms of the Delaware Historical So-
ciety, at Tenth and Market Streets, in Wilmington.

The lines they marked out were those between Penn-
sylvania on the north, and Maryland on the south, and
between Maryland and Delaware 6 and they did their
work so well that it has never had to be done again.

JVlason &> J>i x

M

1 62 NOTES

NOTES

1. Now New Castle.

2. Wilmington.

3. The first settlement in Maryland.

4. The Six Nations were the tribes of Indians inhabiting that
region.

5. At the time of the Civil War, 1861-65, the Mason and
Dixon line was spoken of as the line dividing North and South,
free and slave States from each other. When it was laid out, it
was with no such idea, however, as we have seen, but to cor-
rectly mark the divisions between the properties of William Penn
and Lord Baltimore.

6. In 1909, the original Royal Grants from the King and the
Duke of York to William Penn were given to the Colonial
Dames by Mrs. W. R. Miller of Media, Pennsylvania. These
deeds were given by John Penn, the great grandson of William
Penn, to Mr. John Coates, of Philadelphia, in 1811, and had
been handed down and carefully preserved. The Colonial Dames,
on receiving them, presented them formally to the State of Dela-
ware, and Governor Pennewill accepted them in the name of the
Commonwealth, before the joint session of the Legislature.

They are undoubtedly the most important records ever pre-
sented to this state. They are the Royal Grants, which confer
practically the sovereignty to the State of Delaware of the land
composing its domain. Upon the validity of these grants the
division lines between Maryland and Delaware were established
in the famous chancery suit in England between William Penn
and Lord Baltimore. In the Pea-patch Island controversy be-
tween New Jersey and Delaware they established Delaware's
ownership of this island, where Fort Delaware was erected. Also
in the late case between New Jersey and Delaware concerning
the fishery rights within the twelve mile circle, these papers
played an important part.

1